A crane may be needed to pull a residential car park's roof off a van after it became stuck when the driver misjudged its height and tore it off whilst driving through.
A resident in Devon watched the incident unfold in the Alphington area around 11am today.
The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, told Devon Live that he was inside a nearby address when all of a sudden, he heard an unusually loud noise.
"The driver of the van was helping a friend or a family member move in,” they said.
"Suddenly I heard this noise. I can't even describe it, as soon as I heard it I flew to the window.
"I saw the driver jump out of the van and he was screaming, effing and blinding.
"The roof ripped right off the entrance pillars and was on top of the van."
The eye-witness adds that, although it was an unusual incident, he is surprised that it hasn't happened before.
He said: "Usually that roof is sat up on pillars, and as he has gone to drive through he has made a bad judgement error - and at some speed i can imagine - and taken it off.
"I am surprised it hasn't happened sooner because when I went outside to see what had happened, I saw that one of the pillars which was in the ground was soaking wet and looked rotten.”
Around 15-minutes after the event took place, he said fire crews were on the scene, where they were “puzzled” about what had happened.
“The AA also turned up but they have both gone now,” he said.
"The van has been moved and cordoned off, but it is blocking some spaces for other properties. It looks like it will be there for a while now.
"I spoke to the driver, he says they are trying to get hold of the car park owners to see if they can pull the roof off of the van, because obviously if they do that it will smash into pieces."
The resident was told by the driver that the van is a rental and that they may have to pay for a crane to remove the roof.
"The driver informed me that the van is a rental, and said the insurance (company) refused to help, the rental company refused to help, the firefighters said they didn't know what to do and he'd have to potentially pay privately for a crane, and AA then arrived as and they were baffled on what to do or how to help."
A spokesperson for Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service confirmed they had been on the scene.
A spokesperson said: "Middlemore crew attended the incident from 11.15am – 12.21pm.
"They made sure the vehicle was safe. There was no major damage to the roof."
