01Make it safe
The first job is to stop anything else moving: the load is taken off whatever the tree is resting on, hanging material comes down under control, and the area is made safe to be in.
24 hours a day, seven days a week
Emergency tree work across Southampton and Hampshire
Storm damage, a tree across the drive, a limb hanging over the road or the neighbour's roof. Ring it in, say it is an emergency, and it goes to the front of the queue.
If it is unsafe, ring. Do not use the form.
Tell us what the tree is resting on and how we get to it. If it is touching a power line, ring the network operator on 105 first.
What counts as an emergency
The jobs that jump the diary
If the tree, or part of it, is still moving, is on something, or is about to be, it is an emergency. Everything else is a normal tree job and gets a normal written quote.
A tree down on a house, garage or car
Anything resting on a building or a vehicle. The weight is still live and it moves when the wind does, so nobody should be under it.
A tree across a drive, road or path
Blocking your way out, or a route other people use. Cleared in sections and the ground left usable.
A hanging or split limb
A branch that has broken but not fallen, or a trunk that has split at a fork. These come down on their own, usually in the next gust.
A tree that has started to lean or lift
Fresh cracks in the ground around the base, roots lifting the lawn, or a lean that was not there last week. The root plate is failing.
Storm damage over a neighbour or a road
Damage on your side that threatens somebody else's property or the public. Making it safe is urgent even if the rest can wait.
A tree in contact with power lines
Ring the network operator on 105 first, then us. Nobody goes near it until the line is confirmed dead.
While you wait
Five things to get right
- 1
Keep everyone, including pets, well clear. A tree under tension does not behave like a tree standing normally, and the dangerous part is often not the part that has moved.
- 2
Do not cut anything yourself, and do not pull at it with a vehicle. Taking weight off one side is what makes the rest let go.
- 3
If it is on a car, leave the car. If it is on the house, keep out of the rooms underneath until we have looked.
- 4
If it is safe to do so, take a few photos from a distance. Your insurer will want them, and so will the council if the tree turns out to be protected.
- 5
Ring us and say it is an emergency. Tell us what the tree is resting on and how we get to it, and it goes to the front of the queue.
When we arrive
What happens on the day
02Clear what is in the way
The drive, the road, the path, the roof. Sectional dismantling rather than letting anything drop, so the fence, the lawn and the car underneath are not damaged twice.
03Look at what is left
A tree that has lost a limb may be fine, or may now be unbalanced and the next one to go. We tell you straight which it is, and what the remaining tree needs.
04Chip, remove, tidy
Arisings go through the chipper and leave on our van. Anything that is not urgent, a stump, a reduction on the rest of the crown, a replacement fence, gets a normal written quote for a normal day.
The planned side of tree work, reductions, felling, stump grinding and the rest, is on the tree surgery page.
Straight answer
What is not an emergency
A tree that has leaned the same way for twenty years. Dead wood high in a crown with nothing underneath it. A hedge that has got away. A stump. A tree that fell flat on an open lawn and is not touching anything. All of these want doing, none of them want doing tonight, and we would rather book them in properly than send a crew out tonight for a job that could wait until Tuesday. Send the form or ring in the day and we will come and quote.
Book a normal visit insteadEmergency questions
Things people ask with a tree on the car
Is it an emergency if the tree has fallen but is not touching anything?
Usually not, and we would rather tell you that than charge you for a night call. A tree lying flat on an open lawn with nothing under tension can wait for a booked visit. If it is blocking access, resting on anything, or has left a hanging or split remainder standing, that is the emergency.
Do you need permission for emergency work on a protected tree?
Not in the way a planned job does. Work on a tree that is dead, or that presents an immediate risk of serious harm, is exempt from the normal Tree Preservation Order and Conservation Area process, but you are expected to give the council five working days' notice unless the work is urgent, and to be able to show afterwards that it was. Photographs before anything is cut are what prove that. We take them as a matter of course and tell you what to send.
My neighbour's tree has come down in my garden. Who pays?
Ownership follows the trunk, so it is their tree, but in most cases a tree owner is only liable if they knew, or should have known, it was dangerous. For storm damage that usually means you claim on your own buildings or contents policy for the damage to your property. Making it safe is a separate question from who pays for it, and it should not wait for that argument.
What does emergency tree work cost?
It is priced like every other tree job, on what the tree is resting on, what is underneath it, how we get to it and how much comes off, and we agree the price with you before anything starts. What you are not paying for is the damage a second fall would do while it sits there.
Will you come out at night or at the weekend?
Yes. The emergency line runs around the clock. Ring, say it is an emergency, and tell us what it is resting on and how to reach it.
Where we come out to
Emergency callouts across Hampshire and the New Forest
Based in Southampton. The closer you are, the sooner we are there, but if it is unsafe and it is in reach, we come.
Southampton & suburbs
Eastleigh & Winchester
- Eastleigh
- Winchester
- Chandler's Ford
- Romsey
- Bishop's Waltham
- Alresford
- South Wonston
- Stockbridge
New Forest & the Waterside
- Hythe
- Lyndhurst
- Brockenhurst
- Lymington
- Sway
- New Milton
- Ringwood
- Fordingbridge
- Verwood
Portsmouth & south east Hampshire
- Portsmouth
- Southsea
- Fareham
- Gosport
- Havant
- Emsworth
- Hayling Island
- Waterlooville
- Denmead
- Wickham
- Whiteley
- Swanwick
- Warsash
- Stubbington
- Lee-on-the-Solent
- Hamble-le-Rice
- Meon Valley
North Hampshire & the borders
- Basingstoke
- Andover
- Whitchurch
- Aldershot
- Farnborough
- Fleet
- Hook
- Hartley Wintney
- Yateley
- Blackwater
- Bordon
- Alton
- Four Marks
- Petersfield
Not seeing your town? The list is where we normally work, not a boundary. Ring and ask.
07955 586555Tree down now?
Ring, say it is an emergency, and tell us what it is resting on. Keep everyone clear until we get there.
Get a free quoteWhatsApp us07955 586555
24/7 emergency tree work · Storm damage, fallen and dangerous trees