Woman crushed by 40ft tree 'lucky to be alive'

Caroline Leafe was in intensive care for four days after she was hit by a falling tree

A pensioner who was left with a brain injury after she was struck by a falling tree claims she is unable to speak and function as she once could.

Caroline Leafe, 70, was walking in Ashdown Forest with her husband Kenneth and their dog on 25 January last year, when the pair were hit by a silver birch as it was being felled.

The Conservators of Ashdown Forest (CAD) was fined £8,000 and told to pay £3,589.90 in court fees after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and safety and Work Act.

“I’m lucky to be alive, because it was a whacking-great tree,” said Mrs Leafe.

Caroline Leafe was walking along a deer track in Ashdown Forest with her husband and their dog when the pair were hit by a silver birch tree

The conservation said it needed to chop down the 12m (39.9ft) tree because it was rotting.

There were no warning signs or barriers, just the shouts from a ranger that came too late to keep the pair from being hit.

“It was a crisp and frosty day, full of the joys of late winter,” said Mr Leafe. “I heard this panic-stricken shout that caught my attention and then the tree came down.”

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the CAF Forest failed to identify the risk to members of the public, that precautions were not implemented and said there was clear guidance on how to fell trees safely.

The CAF said it had accepted the recommendations by the HSE. It sent a letter of apology to the couple.

The CAF also paid a victim surcharge of £2,000.