Family’s terror as runaway tank crashes into home

Huge cylinder blown two miles by storm force winds before causing carnage.

A family were left cowering in terror after a huge fibreglass storage tank demolished part of their house just six weeks after they moved in.

Catriona Soudan and her three children were at home when storm-force winds catapulted the huge 4-ton cylinder across fields for TWO MILES before slamming into her porch.

Miraculously, no one was injured by the 10-metre long steamroller that flattened everything in its path.

But the Soudan’s have been forced to move out of their home which they’ve spent the last two years renovating, and it will be months before they can return.

Catriona, 41, of Campbeltown said: “I heard an almighty crash and looked out and thought it was a wind turbine. I was shaking and the children were terrified.”

Her husband David, also 41, was at work at the time but rushed home as quickly as he could when he found out what happened.

The farm manager added: “It couldn’t have happened at a worse time of year with Christmas around the corner.

“Catriona and the kids are still pretty shaken by what happened. There was no warning the tank just came crashing through the porch.

“My wife tried to give me a call at work but couldn’t get through because my phone signal was poor. So she got on to the police who came round and checked everything was okay.

“When I got home I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It’s even more devastating as we’ve spent the last two years doing the house up and had only moved in six weeks ago.

“The porch will need to be totally rebuilt and there are some cracks in the main building. The tank hit it with an amazing force.

“But it’s only bricks and we should be grateful no one was injured. If someone was in the way of this, they wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

It’s thought the heavy tank was a storage vessel from a distillery and was blown from a field at Dhurrie, near Campbeltown Airport.

Local firm McFadyens Contractors have since broken it up and removed it from the Soudan’s property.

Police Scotland confirmed they are no longer involved and an insurance investigation is underway to determine exactly what happened.

David, Catriona and their children Claire, 12, Erin 9, and Matthew, 5, have all taken refuge in a guest house and fear it could be sometime before they can move back in.

He added: “Someone is coming out to inspect the property but we are hopeful it will be covered. The early indications are we should be OK.

“At the moment it’s not clear what happened. We’re unsure whether the fibreglass tank was tethered down or not, so we’re not in a position to say if it could have been prevented.

“It’s pretty much destroyed the car as well. I don’t think anyone is to blame, it’s just a freak accident.

“We are not looking for sympathy, it’s just one of those things.

“The people in the guest house have been great looking after us at short notice, and we are very grateful for their support.”

A spokesman for the police confirmed they had attended the incident in the immediate aftermath.

He said: “We got a call about the fibreglass tube having been blown by the wind and striking a house.

“We attended to establish if there were any injuries and, upon ascertaining there weren’t, officers were stood down.”