ANGRY residents whose cars were damaged by sheets of metal blown off a building site say they should have been more secure.

Natalie Purslow, 27, of McCluskeys Street, Colchester, was at home with her three children when she heard a loud bang.

She looked outside and saw her car had been hit by a large piece of metal, which had blown off one of the housing development’s bin sheds.

Three large pieces of roof measuring 7ft by 5ft and three smaller pieces blew off, along with a piece of roofing from the housing development’s showroom.

Ms Purslow said: “It could have taken someone’s head off. It would have killed someone.”

A number of cars, including Ms Purslow’s, was damaged.

Ms Purslow and her neighbours moved the sheets inside a building to prevent more damage.

They believe the roofs were not screwed down securely.

Ms Purslow said: “They are a danger to the public.

“It is not just an Act of God because seven different bits of metal came off.”

Mark Powell Davies, chief executive of Colne Housing, which rents out some of the properties on the estate, said: “We’re sorry there has been damage caused to cars.

“We will talk to the developers about it.

“Our advice to residents is they should talk to their own car insurers.

“We will try and get it resolved mended as soon as we can.”

A spokesman for Linden Homes said: "Our properties are built to comply with the local authority building regulations and are inspected at stages during the build process to ensure the materials and method of construction used are compliant.

"The property in question was handed to the purchaser, Colne Housing, over two and a half years ago, following the sign-off of additional build stage inspections carried out by their own surveyors.

"There is a requirement a property must be able to withstand normal weather conditions for the area in it is built and to date this has been the case.

"However, the storm force winds were well above the norm and were predicted to cause potential structural damage by the Met office.”