A FATHER of three is lucky to be alive after a 150ft oak tree smashed down onto his van as he sat inside.

Adrian Hunneyball, 49, was waiting in the car park for his nine-year-old daughter Lucy to finish her riding lesson when a “mini tornado” swept through Bagnum Riding Stables at Ringwood and uprooted the huge oak tree, causing it to crash on top of the silver Nissan Primastar.

Adrian, of Parkstone Avenue in Poole, managed to get out of the van through the passenger side and walked away unhurt.

The extraordinary 30-second-long drama, on Saturday at around 12.30pm, was witnessed by Lucy and riding school staff from the next field.

A neighbouring farmer used his chainsaw to cut up the tree to free the van so that it could be towed away.

Adrian, who has his own contract cleaning business, said: “I was sitting in the van and my daughter was opposite riding a horse. It was quite a nice, bright day and then all of a sudden it just clouded over, the wind picked up and this mini tornado came through.

“There were leaves swirling up in the air and branches were starting to fall on the van. Then, crash, this tree came down on the windscreen. There were shards of glass all over me. I climbed out of the passenger side to get out.

“I don’t have a scratch on me but I was a little bit shaken. I could have been completely crushed.”

Adrian added that riding school staff had told him of a previous incident where a similar freak weather phenomenon had brought six trees down.

His incredible luck appeared to have deserted him by the end of the day however. He quipped: “I didn’t get the six numbers on Saturday night so I’m obviously not that lucky.”

George Goodfellow, forecaster at the Met Office, said it was “quite possible” that a small tornado could have passed through that area. He said: “We did get other reports of tornadoes near Hastings so I am not surprised. There were exact conditions to get something like that. Normally these things last less than a minute or two and can be fast moving.”

Do you have pictures or video of the tornado? Email it to
newsdesk@bournemouthecho.co.uk or
text it to us