XA Marketing Comment On Plymouth Mum And Baby Lucky To Be Alive

May 1, 2012 - PRLog -- XA Marketing heard today about a Plympton mum and baby who are 'lucky to be alive' after a 70ft tree crashed down onto their family home. Mother-of-three, Toni Hoare, was in bed feeding five-month-old Winnie when she heard a 'noise like a car crashing', at around 5.30am yesterday morning when the city was ravaged by strong winds. Several tonnes of beech tree, thought to be around 300 years old, fell against the Hoare's home in Dark Street Lane, putting five holes in the roof above Toni's bedroom.

“It really was a lucky escape,” said a source from XA Marketing, a Plymouth-based sales and marketing company, “Thank goodness no-one was hurt in the end, but these trees really should be monitored better.”

“There was so much noise – it was a really loud cracking sound that went on for several seconds, like a car crashing and lots of crunching. I thought the whole house was falling down,” said Toni who lives with her husband Steven, Lola, aged four and Isabelle, three. “I thought it could be something in the garden like the trampoline blowing around. I looked out of the window and there were branches everywhere.”

Around five holes measuring between one and two feet have been left in the roof, which was littered with tree debris. The roof felt had been damaged, fascia board had fallen off and the tree ripped down the family's guttering, downpipes, and a security light. A new eight ft fence, recently concreted into the ground, was also crushed along with a gate, and hip tiles had come off the roof. The family were waiting for insurance assessors to see if the timber-frame house had suffered structural damage.

Our source from XA marketing said, “Hopefully this will make sure that the trees are surveyed more regularly from now on, to stop something like this happening again. Next time it might not be such a lucky escape.”

Steven said the tree had been surveyed two years ago and there seemed to be no problem with it.
“It makes you wonder about other trees in the area,” he added. Toni added, “All the neighbours have been fantastic helping with the tree and checking we're OK. I'm glad it didn't happen during the daytime as someone could have been crushed driving their car on the road.”