A MAN whose car was written off after an extreme hailstorm left it covered in hundreds of dents said he has ‘never seen anything like it’.

OIiver Gray, of Hunwick near Bishop Auckland, was on his way to bed on Wednesday evening when he heard the thunder and lightning.

“My wife and I looked out the window to watch the storm, it was thundering really loud and lightning, then it started to rain and that suddenly turned to hailstones,” he said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, only on the TV, and it lasted a good 15 minutes. It was fascinating to watch, I didn’t think for a second that it would have done any damage.”

Once the hail had stopped, Mr Gray went out to check his vehicles as several neighbours came out of their houses to do the same.

He added: “Both of the cars were just absolutely covered in dents, hundreds of them.

"They looked like they’d been sat in a driving range and had loads of golf hit off them.”

The family owns a red Vauxhall Vectra, that Mr Gray uses for work and a white Vauxhall Antara that they have had for around a year.

Insurers have since visited Mr Gray to assess the vehicles and the Vectra has been written off while every panel on the Antara needs to be replaced.

“The insurer said he’s never seen anything like it, it’s going to cost around £4,000 to replace all the panels on the Antara and the Vectra is a write off. I just can’t believe it, we’ve only had the Antara for a year or so,” Mr Gray said.

The father-of-one, who works as a plumber, is not the only person in Hunwick whose vehicles were damaged by the severe hail.

He added: “Our next door neighbour has cracks in her windscreen, another neighbour has just got a brand new Mercedes that’s covered in dents, and there’s a van across the road that’s covered too. Everyone is really shocked.

“We’ve lived here for 12 years and have never seen weather like that here. I think it was just a freak storm, hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”