IN PICTURES: Black Country couple have lucky escape when tree collapses on their car
A couple from the Black Country were lucky to escape serious injury when a fir tree collapsed on their car - as these horrifying pictures show.
Incredibly Kirran Jones, aged 33 and Gavin Davies, aged 34, from Halesowen, escaped with only cuts and bruises following the crash in Wales.
The car's safety system prevented them from being showered in glass when the windscreen smashed before they escaped through the doors.
The couple, who live in Apperley Way, had made a 'spontaneous' decision to visit Tenby in Wales last week and were returning home when disaster struck as they travelled along the A438 through the Welsh village of Clyro.
Miss Jones said her partner had heard a cracking sound as they travelled at 55mph, then realising the tree was coming down before he immediately slammed on the brakes.
The tree hit the car, with the bulk of the impact on the bonnet on the passenger side.
Fortunately, because the damage was largely contained to the bonnet.
Miss Jones said: "I had not got a clue what was going on and I was completely in shock.
"I kept saying 'Oh my God.'
"I was just hysterical really, but my partner stayed calm and got me out of the car and I sat down on the bank."
She praised the help received from passers-by, including the female driver of a Euro Car Parts van who provided her with first aid assistance and kept her warm by helping her into the van.
She also received help from a villager who had been working on a farm and provided her with blankets.
Miss Jones was taken to Hereford County Hospital to be treated for bruises to her arms and chest, while her partner was unscathed.
The teacher said the car's airbags had worked, while a 'curtain' had come down across her side of the car to prevent her being hit by shards of glass from the windscreen.
She said although the bonnet had crumpled, the design of the 2007 X-type meant the main body of the car stayed intact, enabling the couple to escape.
Miss Jones said they had visited the seaside town in Pembrokeshire to see what it was like and to spend some time on the beach.
She added: "I did not have time to think when it happened.
"I was not really thinking anything.
"Afterwards I was just in shock. We have been getting flashbacks, which is understandable, but it was a miracle that we are still here.
"We are both incredibly grateful to be alive and it feels very fortunate because there are lots of people who have had trees fall on their cars who have not been as lucky as us."
