BTC/85/2013 - Barrell On … Ash: a risk management time bomb. Horticulture Week Opinion (August 2013)
“It seems there may be billions of trees within falling distance of people and property”
On 16 October 1987 most of Britain went to bed with no idea that the worst windstorm since 1703 was about to hit southern England. As a young tree contractor, I woke to an estimated 15 million trees down and recall working 21 consecutive days without a break - a contracting bonanza. There was three years' work in as many months, but once it was cleared there was no more money or trees to work on, so business dried up quickly. It was the storm before the calm and many went out of business as the country slipped into the 1990's recession.