'˜Tornado' caused huge trampoline to hit aerial on our townhouse'

The storm, which hit at about 6pm, prompted a surge of calls and emails to the LBO and prompted Phil Thiselton of Wellington Way to also get in touch.

He said the trampoline and a playhouse from a nearby property were lifted off the ground and landed in his back garden.

Phil said: “The trampoline actually hit the aerial on top of our house. It’s the large trampoline in the photo.

“I wasn’t home but my wife was. She said she heard a roaring noise and all the windows at the front of the house slammed and the windows at the back we’re pulled open.

“The trampoline and playhouse probably travelled about 70 to 80 feet. Also, we live in a town house so the trampoline went at least 25-30 feet in the air.”

The Met Office have told the LBO that it actually was not a tornado that swept the trampoline and playhouse into the air, but a funnel cloud.

A funnel cloud is a cone-shaped cloud which extends from the base of a cloud towards the ground without reaching the ground, they are formed in the same way as a tornado building around a localised area of intensely low pressure.

The main difference is that a funnel cloud does not reach the Earth’s surface.

However Phil disputes the Met Office’s conclusion.

“The Met Office were wrong. They only saw photos of the funnel cloud before the tornado formed. According to what I’ve read if there is debris being picked up or blown around by the ‘funnel cloud’ then the rotating column of air has already reached the ground and it’s a tornado.

“So, based on the flying trampoline, we’ll say tornado is accurate!”

Residents’ shock at ‘tornado’