Anwar Shah Road: An old banyan tree along Prince Anwar Shah Road fell on a car as it rained on Tuesday evening.

The 62-year-old owner escaped unhurt but the Ambassador was crumpled under the weight of the tree and a lamp post it had brought down with it.

The accident occurred near Navina cinema and disrupted traffic on the SP Mukherjee Road-bound flank for more than an hour.

"I was seated inside the car as it was raining heavily. Other vehicles were parked nearby," Montu Halder, who lives in the Bagmari Road area, said. "There was a creaking sound and I saw a huge banyan tree coming crashing down."

The tree landed on the car with a loud thud, Halder said. "The branches blocked the doors and I was trapped. Some people managed to open the front left door and drag me out. I was not injured, but I broke down seeing the condition of my car."

Halder said he had suffered a fracture in his hip joint a few years ago and found it difficult to sit or stand at a stretch. His Ambassador was his sole source of income, he said hours after his escape.

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation had taken his car on hire and Halder would drive conservancy department officials.

A motorcycle parked under the tree met with the same fate. The biker was not around, though, when the tree crashed.

Police said the owner could not be traced till late on Tuesday. A Tata 407 parked nearby was damaged.

Civic officials, along with disaster management group personnel, reached the spot and started to remove the tree and its branches.

"We did our best to remove the tree and ensure normal traffic movement at the earliest," an officer in Lalbazar said.