A Truro tree surgeon has been fined after he used his truck to pull down a tree, which then smashed through a wall and landed on a parked car.

Toby Smith, 33, of Truro Tree Services, Crellow Hill, Stithians, was hired to remove a tree at a property on Carvoza Road, and after spending several days removing the tree in sections from the top down decided to pull down the remaining stump with his truck. The stump, which was fifteen feet tall, fell through the wall of the property and onto a parked car at around school closing time on March 2 2017.

At Truro Magistrates Court, his defence lawyer said: "To a degree, tree felling is an art not a science."

He was fined £615 and made to pay Health and Safety Executive costs of £1000.

Smith told magistrates that he was "between a rock and a hard place" and made the decision to pull down the stump as it was in a dangerous condition and could have fallen on passers-by, possibly children from the nearby school, if left overnight.

The prosecutor argued that although Smith was a qualified tree surgeon, he did not meet the minimum level of safety qualifications required to fell a tree of such a height.