A Winchester pensioner fears she could be crushed in her bed by a falling tree and she is urging the City Council to let her chop it down.

Doris Stubbs (77) says she has become increasingly afraid that the 40ft pine in her garden will topple onto her house in Denham Close. She now plans to step up pressure on Winchester City Council to cut down the pine, which is protected by a tree preservation order.

Mrs Stubbs, who lives with her husband Philip (80), said: "Our bedroom is right next to the tree. Some branches have already come down and a great lump came off the one round the corner one night when we were out. It could do a lot of damage.

"When gales have been forecast, we worry. The other thing is that, at our age, you just feel a bit more helpless."

She said the street, off Northlands Drive, acts like a wind tunnel and channels gusts towards her home.

Mrs Stubbs claims a trail of damage has been caused this winter - one fence was blown over, a falling tree crushed another and a wall was partly knocked down by a snapped branch.

But Winchester City Council planning officers say the tree is too valuable to chop down because of its appearance in the street scene.

A spokesman said: "A TPO was placed on a group of trees in the area in 1980 when Denham House was knocked down and replaced with the housing estate. It can't be felled because of its amenity value and because it is quite a young tree."

The Stubbs have applied for permission to remove the tree but it was refused last month. They are now hoping council planners will reconsider in light of the accident in Surrey."

Said Mrs Stubbs: "I would just like the council to give us permission to cut it down or at least cut down half of it. We are so worried about it. My husband is very ill at the moment and this is just one more thing we don't need."