Masonry fall trashes parked car

From the The Argus, first published Wednesday 27th Sep 2006.

Pedestrians were forced to leap out of the way when a chunk of masonry fell from the roof of a three-storey building and smashed into a car roof.

The cement cornice dropped from the building towards the pavement at Church Road, Hove, just off Palmeira Square, yesterday.

Chunks of stone weighing between ten and 15 pounds crashed on to a Smart car belonging to ground-floor barber's shop HotHedz at about 9am.

The shop's co-owner, Michael Underwood, 29, had parked the car there just five minutes earlier.

He told The Argus: "It was a huge shock. I'm devastated about my car."

A woman and her schoolgirl daughter were walking past when the masonry fell.

Mr Underwood said: "A guy shouted, Get out of the way', just before it came crashing down."

Staff member Danny Sheargold, 20, said: "It was lucky no-one was killed."

Mr Underwood described the moment when the block hit the car, smashing its glass roof.

He said: "We heard a loud boom. I had been in the shop about five minutes.

"I looked round and there it was."

The barbers estimate the car is worth about £4,000.

His business partner Andrew Philippou, 29, said: "We all came in thinking we'd have a good day because they have opened the road at Palmeira Square, and now this has happened."

Two fire engines were called out, and firefighters worked to make the building safe while police directed traffic. Brighton and Hove City Council building control officer Derek Hammond said the accident was caused by corrosion in the masonry.

He said: "The remaining loose pieces were taken away by the fire brigade. The owners of the building are taking steps to scaffold and do some remedial maintenance."

Mr Hammond believes even regular inspections of brickwork would not necessarily uncover the threat of a similar accident.

He said: "It's unusual, thankfully, for deterioration of the building to result in lumps falling off.

"This sort of thing can happen without notice because there is no external evidence there is a problem."

Offices on the building's upper floors are let by Crickmay Chartered Surveyors.

Staff there said the property is managed by real estate firm Atisreal on behalf of owners Barclays Bank.

A spokesperson for Barclays said: "We are deeply concerned that this has happened.

"We are currently investigating the circumstances.

"We will take all necessary actions to put this right and at this early stage that is all we can say."

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