A Hertfordshire driving instructor is “still in shock” after a falling branch punched through his car window.

Salman Shakir was in Lower Luton Road, Harpenden, on his way to pick up a learner when he heard a “bang” out of nowhere at 9.55am yesterday (September 27).

For the first few disorientated seconds he thought a person had fallen on the roof of his car, before he realised what had really happened and how close he had come to serious injury.

“It came at the speed of a bullet, I didn’t even see it, but the bang was so loud,” the 43-year-old said. “It punctured through the window then through my dashboard.

“If that had been my side, the drivers’ side, that could be very serious.”

He added: “I got saved. It could have been catastrophic.”

Salman Shakir.Salman Shakir. (Image: Salman Shakir.) Mr Shakir, who has only been an instructor for around eight months, has had to cancel all his lessons until the car can be fixed. He hopes this will be within the next few days after he paid for it out of his own pocket at the garage rather than going through insurance.

Factoring the money he would lose from being unable to work without a suitable vehicle, he realised it would end up costing him more through insurance.

The Luton resident, who takes learners from a large area of Hertfordshire including Stevenage, St Albans, and Harpenden, thinks it will take a long time to forget what happened.

“It was very shocking, I’ve told my wife probably 400 times ‘I can’t believe it has happened’,” he said.

“My friends and my family, when I shared it on Facebook, were extremely shocked. Nobody has seen anything like that - that a wooden stick could do that.”

The branch, having gone through the car window and dashboard.The branch, having gone through the car window and dashboard. (Image: Salman Shakir.) Dashcam footage shared by Mr Shakir shows the branch fell straight down in front of the car, with the vehicle meeting it so that it went through the window. Immediately afterwards, the shocked driver can be heard saying “wait, wait, wait…wow” and taking a deep breath.

Another video taken later on shows how it had gone even further than the window, penetrating the dashboard and going into the glove compartment.