A HOUSEOWNER is living in fear after a large tree branch smashed into her garden causing considerable damage.

Aileen Quinn says she feels like she is living underneath a ‘guillotine’ as another dead branch swings precariously over her Darlington home.

Two weeks ago her fence and garden furniture were destroyed when the branch came crashing down.

An arborist from Darlington Borough Council came out to remove the dead wood but Mrs Quinn is too scared to hang washing out amid fears that more branches will hit her home on Bracken Road.

After being contacted by The Northern Echo, the council has promised that all of the dead limbs will be removed by the end of the week.

“I’m too scared to go out into the garden,” said Mrs Quinn, who has lived in the house since 1972. “I anyone had been in the garden when it came crashing down they could easily have been killed. The council came out and cleared up the branch but there is clearly a lot more work that needs doing – it is so dangerous.

“The branch smashed the swing seat in the garden as well as knocking down the fence and railings at the rear of my house. It also damaged the eaves on my house and I’m so worried that any more branches falling could cause even more damage to my home.

“But I’m even more worried that someone is going to get killed – it’s like living under a guillotine.”

The house backs onto the Denes, a green space which follows Cocker Beck and is popular with dog walkers and families.

And Mrs Quinn is concerned that a branch could fall without warning and injure anyone who just happens to be in the area.

She added: “I have lived here for more than 40 years and the council used to come round every few years and cut back the trees and maintain them but that has all changed in the last few years – we hardly ever see them now.

“I love my house – it is where we brought up our children – but at the minute I am really too frightened to go in the garden.

“The council promised they would come out and sort out the remaining trees to make them safe but that was a fortnight ago and nothing has been done.

“Whenever I have called up about the problem, they keep telling me that it is not the highest priority because the trees aren’t dangerous but I can see dead branches in the trees and it won’t be long before they fall.”

The damaged caused to Mrs Quinn’s home happened at the same time several trees came down when high-winds wreaked havoc across the town, including on Eden Crescent where debris was scattered in residents’ gardens.

A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council said: “The work will be carried out by the end of the week.”