A Southampton pensioner has told of his shock when a more than 100-year-old Victorian wall came crashing down on his garden crushing his trees and vegetables.

Bob Sanderson, 85, was at home with his wife on Westbourne Crescent, Highfield, when he heard an almighty crash coming from outside.

Assuming it was a tree that had fallen in the land behind the back of his home, Bob did not pay it much attention and carried on with his morning routine.

The pensioner said: “We can regularly hear crashing and noises from the trees at the back of our home.

“We have a tree come right through the back fence earlier in the year – so we are used to it.”

Daily Echo: Bob and his neighbours have been working to clear the rumbleIt was only when he got a telephone call from his next-door neighbour that Bob realised the full extent of what had happened.

He added: “The lady next door called and said ‘have you seen the disaster in the back garden’ and bricks and rumble were scattered across lawn.”

The incident on Monday, February 25 came after heavy wind and rain throughout last month – with the Met Office issuing a number of yellow weather warnings.

Bob and his neighbour have been working for four to five hours each day to remove the bricks and rumble which is likely to cost thousands of pounds.  

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Trees that stood in the garden for decades were snapped completely in half and Bob’s £950 fruit cages were also bent and broken when the wall came crashing down on his vegetable patch.  

The Highfield resident of 40 years added: “The power of the wall was quite incredible – I had two pear trees and a fig tree and there is only a stump left to show for it now.

“You could slightly see the wall had bowed over time but nothing suggested that it would come crashing down the way that it did.”

Bob is now working to clear the rubble, replace his fruit cages and re-plant his crushed vegetables.