When to call a tree surgeon UK: hung-up or leaning

The rounds on the lawn are one job. The limb caught in the next crown is another. Households searching for when to call a tree surgeon UK have to settle that split before anyone fetches a hammer. A bucked round you can set on a chopping block stays with a splitting wedge. A stem that is still standing, hung in another tree, freshly leaning towards a building, or against a power line is the call.

You need a competent person who dismantles trees for a living, and you need everyone else out of the area the wood could reach. The comparison pages below cover firewood rounds. This article will not describe a felling cut or a climb.

In short

Phone a tree surgeon when the wood is still a standing tree, hung up in another crown, freshly leaning with cracks or lifted roots, or able to reach a road or a building. Keep the splitting wedge for a bucked round you can set on a block. If any part of the tree is on or near a power line, call 105 first and stay clear.

A bucked round is still a wedge job

A splitting wedge is struck steel for the end grain of a round you can set on a chopping block. Drive it with a sledgehammer or a splitting maul, with nobody in the hammer's swing. That is the job on the how to use a splitting wedge page. A stem still on the stump, or still held in another tree, sits outside that method. The wedge cannot steer a fall.

The top pick in our splitting wedge comparison for that block is the Roughneck 65-504 wood grenade, listed on amazon.co.uk at £13.99. Item weight is 1.46 kg, the section is a diamond with a sharp point, and the listing names a sledgehammer or a splitting maul. The rating is 4.3 from 1,490 reviews. The bullets do not promise quarters, and reviews that describe the split say two ways, including one tip that broke off after about a year of steady use. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you, and £13.99 is this comparison's listing, not a live basket.

A pinched knot stays a round if you can seat it and stand clear. A second wedge in the crack is the case on splitting knotty hardwood. Stop when blows no longer open the wood. If the wedge breaks and you cannot steer the piece, use a powered splitter or someone who splits large rounds. Call a tree surgeon when the only way forward is felling, climbing, or releasing a hang.

A hung-up tree or a fresh lean

A hung-up tree has broken, or started to fall, and is caught in another tree. A hung-up limb is the same problem on a smaller scale, and it can look still for hours. JM Tree and Fence, an East Sussex emergency page, warns that a tree which looks settled can drop the rest of itself if someone pulls it from the wrong angle. Do not climb a hung-up tree, and do not test the hang with a rope, a tow-ball, or a winch.

From a safe distance, look for the signs TH Trees lists in Essex: cracks in the trunk or a main branch, hanging or partly detached limbs, a sudden lean, and raised or cracked soil at the base. Call when the tree is near a building, a road, or a public path, or when the damage is high up. If you are unsure it can miss the path, treat the path as closed. An old lean with no fresh crack and no lifted roots can wait for a booked inspection. A new tilt, lifted roots, or a hang towards a house should be phoned the same day.

One East Sussex firm aims for the next working day on a genuine emergency in its patch and does not work through the night. That diary, and any "no charge to look" line, is that firm's offer, so this page will not invent a UK call-out fee. While you wait, keep people, pets, and cars back. Leave wood under tension uncut, because it can spring or roll. If a limb is on or near a power line, call 105 first.

Call 105 before the surgeon

If a limb or stem is on or near a power line, the first call is 105. JM Tree and Fence's emergency page says to treat the line as live and to call 105 before the surgeon. The 105 service states that the call is free from England, Scotland, and Wales and connects you to the local electricity network operator. That firm looks after the lines. It is separate from the supplier on your bill.

Stay clear of the tree and the ground nearby. Do not shake the limb or put a ladder against the stem. Phone from a place the tree would miss, and say if the line is in the crown, on the ground, smoking, or sparking. Once the circuit is safe, a hung or leaning tree is still a surgeon's job.

In Northern Ireland, use the emergency number your own network operator publishes. The 105 service describes its route as England, Scotland, and Wales. If someone is injured, or a building is on fire, call 999 as well. If the limb missed the lines, call the surgeon. Treat an unknown overhead cable as power until the operator says otherwise.

What HSE says about emergency tree work

HSE's eBulletin of 14 December 2021, "Dangers of emergency tree work", says the work should only be undertaken by experienced professionals. In the 12 months before that bulletin, HSE recorded eight people killed by falling branches or trees. That figure is historical, not a count for this year. Planning and the work must be done by a competent person trained in emergency tree work, including windblown and part-blown trees. HSE warned farmers against doing it without that experience.

Fallen trees can be unstable, and a movement you did not intend can be fatal. The bulletin flags chainsaw risk and says mechanised removal is preferred, which is why this page does not describe a cut. PUWER 1998 applies to equipment used at work. HSE's overview says those rules do not cover domestic work in a private household, so splitting your own rounds sits outside that duty. Someone paid to fell sits inside it, and the hung stem still belongs with the competent person in the bulletin.

Ask who will attend and what training they have for windblown trees. One East Sussex page cites NPTC qualifications, BS 3998, and £5 million of public liability, which are that firm's own statements. BS 3998 is the British Standard of recommendations for tree work. The £13.99 wedge is for rounds on a block, and a surgeon's price depends on the firm, the access, and the wood. If a tree has hit a building, ask your insurer what record they want, because some policies ask for a professional note.

A stuck wedge is a different call

A wedge stuck in a round on the block is still firewood. Put a second wedge in the open crack, strike it squarely, and stop when the wood stops opening. Levering with the hammer handle, or putting a steel wedge into a chainsaw kerf, means you stop and reset.

Phone a tree surgeon when the stem is standing, hung up, split, resting on a building, or trapped so that cutting one piece moves another. A full length on a slope can roll after the roots have torn out. Buck it only when it is stable and the saw work is already within what you can control. The test that matches the wedge is a short round on a block, with nobody in the swing. Size alone points to a powered splitter, and felling, climbing, or releasing a hang points to a tree surgeon.

This page is from the Products Compared editorial team. We read the amazon.co.uk listings in this comparison, HSE's eBulletin of 14 December 2021, the 105 service, and UK tree-firm pages on storm signs. We did not fell a tree or lab-test a wedge.