Near miss as 40ft Christmas tree felled by wind

Published on Monday 12 January 2009 00:31

SHOPPERS in Perth had a narrow escape after high winds blew over a 40ft Christmas tree.

The massive conifer snapped at its base outside the Perth Concert Hall in the town's Mill Street and fell just inches from windows at the hall's restaurant as diners ate inside. Mill Street was also busy with hundreds of weekend shoppers.

Julia McAllister, 42, was walking past the concert hall when the tree crashed down at about 2pm on Saturday.

She said: "It was pretty terrifying. The weather was horrendous with rain battering down and the wind was blowing really strongly.

"It was only a couple of feet away from the windows of the hall, and there were people sitting in there eating when it fell."

Meanwhile, in East Ayrshire, firemen rescued two women after high water levels left their car stuck in a ford.

The pair became stranded after trying to drive through Kilmarnock's Dean Ford, which runs across Dean Road, at 6pm last night.

And much of Scotland was battered by winds and heavy rain at the weekend, with restrictions imposed on all of the country's main road bridges and flood warnings issued for six rivers.

Ian Robinson, of the Met Office, said: "(Yesterday] saw a real east-west split, with the vast majority of the rain landing on the western side of the country."

Most parts faced high winds, with gusts of up to 75mph recorded in the Western Isles.