A man who crashed into a fallen tree during Storm Isha has said that he has not driven since.

Paul Joseph Masson, who owns the Lotus Chinese Takeaway in Peel, was on his way to work at 6pm on Sunday, January 21.

Driving to Peel via Poortown Road, he says he was driving to the conditions.

He said that the road was pitch black, although someone had been flashing lights on the other side of the tree.

But two hours before people were told not to leave their homes due to Storm Isha, he crashed into a tree, having not seen it due to the dark.

He said the collision was like hitting a brick wall as he drove into it head on, having been driving at around 40mph.

With the driver behind calling the emergency services, Mr Masson was taken to hospital.

Since the incident, Mr Masson has said: ‘I have given up the car and am not driving again, I could have been dead and now I have to go on without the car.’

A Facebook post from the police said that the road was completely blocked at 5.41pm, which Mr Masson’s daughter saw but Mr Masson hadn’t been aware of.

As such, he believes that the road should have been closed and the tree removed sooner.

A spokesperson for the Constabulary said: ‘At 5.36pm on January 21, a call was received into the control room.

‘This was the first call about the tree, nothing prior according to our systems. It appears that the tree down was only reported to police (the reported incident of someone colliding with it). It appears officers remained on scene until it was cleared by DoI.’

Asked why it wasn’t closed sooner, the spokesperson added: ‘It appears it’s because we had no knowledge of it.

‘We rely on calls to the control room from member of the public, and or when we link in with DoI to report trees down to them, they may inform us of trees not reported to the police, but directly to DoI.’

Speaking of the protocol for fallen trees, the spokesperson said those on duty ‘would normally update social media and call DoI. If it’s a main route, they would allocate officers to close the road, update social media, and call DoI.

‘On occasions, dependant on the route/road, and location of the tree (is it very obvious, or following a bend etc.), officers may stand down, but this is situation dependant on each circumstances.

In an update published at the time,DoI said: ‘The number of on-call Highway Services incident response teams was increased from two to six. A member of staff was also based at the Emergency Joint Control Room for the evening in order to co-ordinate our response to emerging incidents with the emergency services and other authorities.

‘On Sunday evening/night our teams attended 43 incidents where roads were blocked or partially blocked by trees or large branches.

There were trees down all across the island, but the North and West were particularly impacted.

A spokesperson for the DoI said: ‘Highway Services work on the hierarchy of the road network, for example, main links between population Douglas to Peel Road, Laxey to Ramsey Coast Road, Douglas to Castletown etc.

‘However, we also need to work in conjunction with the emergency services. One example being during the event on Sunday, January 21, there was an elderly lady who required medication from a carer but access was blocked by fallen trees so this then became a priority.

‘Fallen trees are reported to Highway Services by members of the public, the Emergency Services Joint Control Room and our own staff. The public can call Highway Services on 850000 (emergency number 672000), text 166164.

‘Drivers are encouraged to drive to the conditions at all times, and to be particularly cautious around exceptional incidents such as Storm Isha.’