I think that I Shall Never See A Poem Lovely as A Tree

We had a very large old beech tree in our garden. It was already a large tree half a century ago. I know this because our garden is on the site of the village school my wife attended and she danced around that tree in the playground. Sadly, the tree is  now no more than a very large stump.

A few months back, a passing arborist noticed that our old beloved tree was diseased. He said it had to come down for safety reasons. (It hung precariously over a busy road).

Once the council had said yes (there was a tree preservation order on it) the arborist and his team got to work and within hours there was a large gap both in our garden, and in our bank account.

Why am I telling you this tale of woe?  Well, I want to discuss what the consequences might have been if we’d ignored the advice of the tree specialist.

I dealt some years ago with a tragic accident when a man delivering leaflets to a house was seriously injured when due to a strong wind, a large branch of a tree in the garden of the house fell and hit him. He suffered serious brain damage. Had the householder been warned of any risk that the tree was a danger, and had ignored that advice, she would have been liable for significant damages that would not have been covered by her property insurance. In fact, there had been no indication previously that the tree was a risk; nor was it diseased, and so the householder was held not to be liable.

Practically every time one of our regular storms arrives, there is usually a report of a tree having fallen injuring sometimes fatally a  passing walker or motorist.

If a tree on your property has clear signs it could be diseased or is unstable , even if you have not been specifically informed as we were, you could still be held liable for damages if the tree or a branch causes injury.

If you do need a tree felling, be sure to choose a competent registered arborist with full insurance cover. The case example in the comments section starkly demonstrates the consequence of hiring a non-specialist.

Footnote:

Every cloud has a silver lining. Our garden is now far more open to the sun and I wont miss having to pick up hundreds of beech nuts next year.  The only real losers in fact are the squirrels.

Forbes Comment:

Just recently a school trust has been fined and a man given a suspended prison sentence after a member of the public was hit by a falling tree branch.

Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust and gardening services provider Nicolas Thépot (trading as ‘The Green Yem’) both pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches following the incident, which left a 68 year-old with serious injuries.

Gillian Gardner had been walking her dog on the pavement along West Road in Newcastle when she was hit by the falling branch, knocking her on to the road and into the path of incoming traffic.

Thépot had been contracted by the trust to fell two trees in the grounds of St Cuthberts Catholic High School.

A HSE investigation found he had no training or qualifications in arboriculture or in the use of chainsaws. He was also using an unsafe method to fell the tree, by carrying out aerial chainsaw work above the open footpath and road.

Bishop Bewick Catholic Education Trust had made no checks on Thépot’s experience, competence or qualifications.