Aber storms: A tree fell on an English lecturer’s car outside the Hugh Owen building

When English Lecturer Richard Margraff Turley heard the winds piping up, signalling the beginning of Thursday’s devastating storm in Aberystwyth, he had a hunch that this wasn’t going to end well for him. And it didn’t, as he found a tree had fallen on his car.

He told The Tab: “I was in my office when I suddenly heard a rising howl outside. I looked out of the window to see that the trees were leaning at 45 degrees. I’m a professor in the English Department, so my office looks down from the Hugh Owen building”.

Prof. Turley’s thoughts immediately turned to his car; “I had a feeling – I just knew that my car would be hit by a tree. Like a premonition. Sure enough, 10 minutes later, a colleague emailed me to say that the blue van had been hit, people were saying it might be mine.

“When I got to the car park, the car next to mine had been completely flattened, and a huge tree had fallen between the cars, damaging mine and breaking off the awning.

“It could’ve been worse.”

Prof. Turley claims that Campus services were less than helpful: “I was about to go and get a bow saw to try to free it, but Campus security wouldn’t let me. Too much tension on the branches, apparently.

“I was like, dude, that’s my car under all that. But I guess they had their protocols to follow.”

That feeling you get when there’s a tornado in Aberystwyth & you hear someone’s car got hit by a tree & you think “that’s mine". & it was.

— RMarggrafTurley (@RMarggrafTurley) November 17, 2016

Talk about a bad day at the office.