Ice block crashes from sky into garage roof

But resident Dan Wells was stunned to find a chunk of the cold stuff had plunged from the sky and smashed through his garage roof.

Dan rushed out of his house at 9.15pm after hearing a noise ‘like an explosion’.

Opening his front door, he discovered the guttering from his garage had been smashed by the ice – believed to have come from a plane – and a hole had been left in its roof.

Dan, 45, of Geranium Gardens, Denmead, said: ‘It was pretty spectacular. It sounded like an explosion.

‘There was a huge crash and you could hear bits of debris falling to the ground.

‘I was watching television with my partner at the time and just an hour before we were enjoying a barbecue in the garden. It’s lucky no one was killed.’

It is believed the chunk of ice – which left behind hand-sized shards of frozen debris – fell from a commercial plane flying over the area.

‘I’ve heard of this happening but I never thought it would happen to us,’ Dan said.

‘My insurer says I’m covered for impact damage, so I’m hoping the costs will be covered within the £100 excess fee,’ added Dan.

On its website, the UK Civil Aviation Authority provides information about falling ice.

It says: ‘From 2.5m flights a year in UK airspace, approximately 25 ice falls are reported to the CAA. Some of these instances may occur because ice, which has naturally formed on an aircraft at higher altitudes, breaks off as it descends into warmer air.

‘Falling ice which is clear and uncontaminated may not have originated from aviation activity. There have been reports of falling chunks of ice which date back to before the existence of aircraft.

‘Research into the phenomena is ongoing by scientists but is controversial.’

In February, 2009, The News revealed a man found his car windscreen smashed in Horndean, where a spate of ice balls caused damage in 2005.