Ashdown Forest bosses have been fined after a tree fell on a couple, leaving a woman with a traumatic brain injury. Caroline Leafe was walking along a deer track in the forest with her husband Kenneth and their dog Monty when the pair were hit by a silver birch tree that was being felled. The Conservators of Ashdown Forest, the body that manages Ashdown Forest, had identified that the 12-metre tree was rotting and needed to be cut down.
Caroline Leafe was left with a brain injury (Image: Health and Safety Executive) The tree was in the corner of Broadstone Car Park on Colemans Hatch Road in Upper Hartfield, and surrounded by public footpaths, including the main pathway to the visitor centre. The tree began to fall on January 25, 2023, after a forest ranger made a sink cut with a chainsaw. As it was falling, the ranger noticed Mr and Mrs Leafe walking on the nearby deer track and attempted to warn them but it was too late.
Read more: Woman hit by falling tree in Ashdown Forest - trust release statement Mrs Leafe suffered a traumatic brain injury, a fractured collar bone, several fractured ribs and a shoulder dislocation. She spent considerable time in hospital following the incident and continues to undergo physical and cognitive therapy several months later. She also had to surrender her driving licence.
The tree which fell on Mrs Leafe (Image: Health and Safety Executive) The 70-year-old said in a statement: “I have suffered a loss of independence and Ken has had to do a l.