Dad’s miracle escape from a mini tornado in Ringwood

Adrian Hunneyball was waiting for nine-year-old daughter Lucy to finish her riding lesson when a mini tornado swept through, uprooting the huge oak tree and sending it crashing on top of him.

But miraculously the 49- year-old managed to get out of the silver Nissan Primastar through the passenger side and walked away without even a scratch.

The extraordinary 30-second- long drama happened on Saturday at around 12.30pm, and was witnessed by Lucy and riding school staff from the next field.

A neighbouring farmer used his chainsaw to cut up the tree to free the van so that it could be towed away after the drama.

Adrian, who has his own contract cleaning business, said: “I was sitting in the van and my daughter was opposite riding a horse. It was quite a nice, bright day and then all of a sudden it just clouded over, the wind picked up and this mini tornado came through.

“There were leaves swirling up in the air and branches were starting to fall on the van. Then, crash, this tree came down on the windscreen. There were shards of glass all over me. I climbed out of the passenger side to get out.

“I don’t have a scratch on me but I was a little bit shaken.

I could have been completely crushed.”

Adrian, of Parkstone Avenue in Poole, added that riding school staff had told him of a previous incident where a similar freak weather phenomenon had brought six trees down at the same spot in Bagnum Riding Stables, Ringwood.

His incredible luck appeared to have deserted him by the end of the day however.

He quipped: “I didn’t get the six numbers on Saturday night so I’m obviously not that lucky.”

George Goodfellow, forecaster at the Met Office, said it was “quite possible” that a small tornado could have passed through that area.

He said: “We did get other reports of tornadoes near Hastings so I am not surprised.

There were exact conditions to get something like that. Normally these things last less than a minute or two and can be fast moving.”