A TREE collapsed onto a car carrying a family after narrowly missing a young woman.
A councillor's daughter was nearly hit by the tall tree as it toppled over onto a parked vehicle in Leyton on Monday (April 30).
Miraculously no-one was injured after the 20ft tree collapsed at 8pm but the car was written-off.
Liberal Democrat councillor Farooq Qureshi's daughter Qarah, 22, had a lucky escape when the tree narrowly missed her as she walked home in Vicarage Road.
Cllr Qureshi said: "The tree narrowly missed her, it was only by a few seconds. She was really shaken up by it but she is safe now, she had a lucky escape.
"The driver and passengers in the car escaped miraculously, it was a huge tree and somehow their roof took all the impact."
He and Tory councillor Paul Braham have notified Waltham Forest Council that they believe the tree was rotten.
Cllr Braham said: "I was driving by and saw the aftermath, it did look quite dramatic. We actually took handfuls of the tree and it crumbled, it was like handling papier mache pulp.
"The passengers and driver were unhurt but they were quite upset by the experience."
The councillors praised police for their quick response after they managed to lever the tree off the car roof to free the passengers, and the pair helped out by directing traffic.
They have asked Waltham Forest Council to inspect two other trees on the same stretch of road which they believe could also be rotten.
"They look healthy from the outside but so did the one that came down," said Cllr Qureshi.
"I'm not going to blame the council for this, they can't check each and every one in the borough."
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