A pensioner has credited divine intervention with saving her when a huge tree crashed down on her car - as she was on the way to church.
Chris Challinor, 70, was driving her Volkswagen Polo to a Sunday morning service in Cheltenham when the 20-metre-tall beech came crashing down, narrowly missing her and flattening her supermini's bonnet.
Winds gusting at up to 60mph felled the giant trunk growing in the grounds of Cheltenham College Junior School, where yearly fees for pupils are up to £19,000.
It smashed through a 6-foot wall and toppled across the road, staving in the front of the car and finishing just inches from the pensioner, who had to be freed by fire fighters and paramedics.
Amazingly, Challinor was left uninjured, though the grandmother of six was understandably a little shocked by her near-miss.
She said she felt "incredibly fortunate" to come so close to tragedy and yet survive with barely a scratch.
"The whole thing is a blur because it happened so quickly," she added.
"I just remember coming to a stop with the huge trunk smashing into the bonnet.
"I was sorry not to make it to church, but I think someone may have been looking down on me after all."
The near-tragedy was simply the most dramatic of a range of incidents involving cables and trees being blown down in Sunday morning's high winds, according to Inspector Ian Phillips of Gloucestershire Police.
