A PAIR of tree surgeons halted their journey to work to help clear a fallen tree from a main road, free of charge.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, wind blew a tree into A58 Crompton Way close to Toby Carvery, blocking two lanes.

It fell onto the side of the road heading towards Tonge Moor Road and caused some congestion and delays to bus services.

Fortunately, two of the commuters were Kingsley Stevenson and Ben Owen from Timothy's NW tree surgery.

Mr Stevenson said: "We were travelling to Egerton for our first job of the day when we saw it.

"We posted tree felling signs on Crompton Way and removed the tree.

"We both decided it was better to tackle the problem than read about a serious car accident later. Ben tackled the tree while I managed traffic.

"We were both grateful for the quick arrival and support from local police officers, quickly followed by Stuart Cairns, the Tree and Woodland Officer for Bolton Council who was also very quickly on hand to manage the situation."

Due to their hard work, the pair were offered a reward from Toby Carvery. Unfortunately they were too busy to claim it, but still gave themselves a sweet treat

Mr Stevenson added: "Toby Carvery's manager kindly offered us a free breakfast but there were plenty more trees for us to tackle so we just celebrated with an ice cream."

Bolton Council has praised the pair for their help but asked people to contact Security and Response in future.

A spokesman said: “It was good of them to stop and help and we would not have expected them to do this.It was very community minded of them to help out in this manner.

“Our own tree team had been called out and were already on their way to clear away the fallen tree.On arrival they found the road had been made passable for traffic along with the help of local police officers.

“We would advise the public that if you do see a fallen tree, then please contact the council’s Security and Response team by calling 01204 336890."