TREES at Nantwich are to be inspected by a specialist after a lime that crashed down onto a passing car was found to be rotten at the roots.

The elderly woman driver was lucky to escape injury.

Fears that other lime trees in the area may be in the same dangerous condition have been expressed by residents.

They say they have been worried about such an accident happening for some time.

The 40ft lime, which had been standing on the grass verge next to Coronation Gardens, fell across Beam Street last Wednesday morning.

Eighty four-year-old Mrs Alison Turner was driving her F-reg Nisson Sunny along Beam Street, in a queue of traffic at the Barony Road crossroads.

The falling tree crushed the boot of her car and the petrol tank. The road was closed for almost three hours.

Borough Head of Leisure, Byron Davies, said that an examination of the fallen tree had revealed root decay which would have made it very vulnerable in the gusty wind conditions.

The tree had been inspected not long before the incident but the external examination had not revealed the root trouble, he added.

"A specialist inspection of the trees in the area has been arranged to ascertain whether others are also suffering from underground decay," Mr Davies said.

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