Shocked elderly couple face £7,000 bill after giant 50ft oak tree smashes through their roof

An elderly couple whose home was devastated by a tree have blasted the council for refusing to cover the £7,000 repair bill – despite admitting ownership of the 50ft oak.

Alan Muggleton, 70, and his wife Angela, 69, heard branches crash through their storeroom roof after the bough broke off from the conservation area which backs on to their property.

The pensioners were distraught to find their outbuilding had crumbled and expensive garden tools and machinery had been destroyed, but they believed the council would stump up the hefty damage costs.

Now have been left seething after Caerphilly local authority shirked responsibility and refused to foot the repair bill for the three-bedroom home near Blackwood, south Wales. 

A 50ft oak tree from a council conservation area fell onto an elderly couple’s house Pengam, near Blackwood, south Wales, 

Alan Muggleton, 70, and his wife Angela, 69, heard branches crash through their storeroom roof after the bough broke off from the conservation area which backs onto their property

Mrs Muggleton said: ‘We had the letter from the council in which they admitted it was their tree.

‘I was incensed. To me it was black and white. My building, their tree.

‘I rang their insurance department and read the letter his colleague had written and he said, “we can’t be liable because we have not been negligent”.’

‘We’ve had quotes for building to be repaired and together with the ruined tools, it’s about £7,000.

‘We honestly thought because it was a tree belonging to the council in a pretty Bluebell conservation area used by the local community, there would be no question about them clearing debris and repairing damage to our property.’

The branches crashed through the couple’s roof and incurred damages of more than £7,000

The houseproud pensioners were distraught to find their outhouse building had crumbled and expensive garden tools and machinery had been destroyed

The shaken woman added that the tree could have killed her if, as usual, she was in the garden at the time. 

She said: ‘Normally we are back and forth getting the mowers out, because it was on Sunday morning.

‘Had we been in there we would have been killed.’

The houseproud couple say repairs to the roof will cost £5,000 and broken tools will cost £2,000.

Caerphilly council has accepted responsibility for the tree – but says it will not pay as the damage could not be foreseen.

And it maintains that it is ‘continuing to liaise with the property owner.’

A spokesman added: ‘Without going into too much detail about this individual case, a local authority is not necessarily liable for damage caused by a fallen tree/branch if reasonable steps are taken to maintain the tree and it is healthy.

‘This is a widespread legal position and not just CCBC policy.’