Two couples from Ripon were caught up in unexpected drama yesterday when a tree fell under the weight of snow.
Nicole Bond and her partner Ben Crewe were walking near College Lawns, just off Palace Road, yesterday lunchtime when they heard a cracking noise.
Assuming it was pallets being broken up on the nearby business park, they thought nothing of it – but seconds later realised what was happening. Nicole said:
“Ben looked up and shouted ‘run!’. I froze, but he ran out of the way. Luckily, I was right by where the tree fell, but I didn’t have to move.
“There was a couple that didn’t have time to move. As the tree was falling, there was a massive plume of snow that came up and covered everybody.”
As soon as the snow settled again, Nicole realised how big the tree was – and the damage it could have done.
“I thought the worst had happened. We were screaming, ‘are you OK? Are you hurt?’ Ben went into complete action mode and started pulling branches to get to them and I called for an ambulance.”
The huge tree fell under the weight of snow in Ripon. Photo: Nicole Bond
Very quickly, Ben managed to reach the couple. The woman was shaken but didn’t seem badly hurt, but her husband had a head injury that was bleeding.
Ben and Nicole used their clothes to apply pressure and stop the bleeding, following instructions from the call handlers on the phone.
They were warned that, thanks to the road conditions, it could take 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive – but it only took around five minutes before paramedics were on the scene. They treated the injured couple before taking them to hospital for further assessment.
Read more:
Nicole has since been contacted by the woman to say they are both recovering, her husband having been treated for concussion, and to thank her and Ben for their help on the scene.
It was only chance they were all in the wrong place at the wrong time: Nicole and Ben took a different route for their usual dog walk because of flooding. Having spent the morning helping drivers make their way along snowy roads near home, they had just paused to take a video of the road conditions in the area – and a few seconds more or less could have made all the difference to how the incident played out.
Nicole added:
“It’s just crazy. It was all over within 10 minutes, including the ambulance getting there. We barely even had time to think at all.
“I was quite glad I took Ben out for a walk with me, and for the ambulance staff keeping everybody calm. It could have been a lot worse.”
The fallen tree in Ripon has already been broken up and made safe. Photo: Nicole Bond
