A PENSIONER narrowly escaped serious injuries after solar panels came crashing down from the roof of his home during high winds.

Norman Bull was sitting in his garden, in South Crescent, Rochford, when he heard a huge crash and had to run out of the way before the panels fell through the plastic roof of his lean-to.

The 86-year-old believes it was due to the stormy and windy weather which battered Essex over the weekend.

He has been left with the unsafe panels since the incident.

Mr Bull said: “I was sitting watching the trees swaying in my garden in the wind and then there was a terrific crash. The panels smashed through the lean-to and were left there hanging.

“It could have gone through my bedroom window and hit me while I was asleep.

“I tied it all up to try and make it safe and am waiting for the insurance company to deal with this. It was looking quite iffy after I had tied it all up.”

He added: “It was quite frightening and I am just amazed that they came down like that.

“I do not have a clue how much it’ll all be costing.

“It seems the solar panels were just held on with lumps of concrete.

“It is so dangerous, I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life.

“I only moved into the property a few weeks ago so didn’t buy the solar panels.”

Mr Bull’s garden patio was left covered with debris including huge blocks of heavy concrete, metal, wood and plastic panelling.

South Essex was hit hard by high winds over the weekend.

The inclement weather led to Southend Pier, along with the Cliff lift and Pier Hill lift, all closing on Sunday due to the dangerously high winds while the popular Southend Pier Marathon was also cancelled.