Dundee City Council has been accused of failing to properly heed warnings about a huge stone wall which collapsed just moments after a young family drove past.
Neighbours in the Ellieslea Road area claim the council was repeatedly told the wall was showing signs of imminent collapse.
Just as the neighbours feared, a 60ft section of wall came crashing down on Monday morning — only moments after a mum and her young daughter had driven past.
The wall divides properties on Ellieslea Road and Dundee Road and collapsed at around 8am. Tons of rubble crashed on to a driveway.
The force of the large stones crushed a parked car and shunted it forwards into a garage door.
Debris covered the entire width of the driveway.
Karen Arensbach, 43, had driven past the wall as she took he daughter Helena, three, to nursery, just moments before it toppled.
She said: “I took my husband down to the train station about 7.30am, came back and took my daughter to nursery and came back.
“About five minutes later one of my neighbours said the wall had fallen down.”
Dundee City Council is responsible for maintaining the wall and the grass above it, although the surrounding properties and land are privately owned.
It is understood the council had twice before put sensors on the wall but they had been removed after they showed no signs of movement in the ground.
However, Karen said the wall had been bulging for months and claimed the city council had not taken the risk seriously enough.
She said: “We have to take our wheelie bins down the path and we’ve all said to do it on the other side of the road.
“It wouldn’t have mattered where you were though.
“If I had come back a couple of minutes later it wouldn’t have mattered if I was in car. I would have been flattened.”
Neighbour Brian Cairns, 70, said he heard the crash around 8am.
“That’s been a disaster waiting to happen,” he said.
“The wall has had a bulge for a long time. It’s always been something on our minds.
“I heard the crash and thought ‘what the hell is that?’
Mr Cairns said trees had recently been removed from the land behind the wall.
Another of the residents, Chris Hampton, who runs Hampton Preservation and Maintenance Services, said he had warned Dundee City Council about the dangerous condition of the wall.
He said: “The wall was about 12 feet high and had been buckling.
“They removed some trees and I said it could mean water would just run straight through to the wall.”
The owner of the damaged car declined to speak to The Courier.
A Dundee City Council spokesman said: “The area has been fenced off and we are clearing the rubble and looking at long-term options for the area.”