Rooftop close call all hot air, says balloon passenger

A resident captured the moment a hot air balloon descended to the point where he said it was skimming the rooftops of people’s homes.

Jason Sanders said he could see the balloon approaching his home in South Ashford from the direction of Shadoxhurst at 8.15pm on Thursday last week.

The balloon began to drop near houses in Cuckoo Lane and Weavers Way before the burner was used to lift it back into the air.

Mr Sanders said: “I saw it out from Shadoxhurst and then later, when I was in my back garden, I could hear the burner.

“I thought, ‘that’s that balloon, that’s bloody close’.

“I thought it was looking to land on the playground or in the field at Beaver Green school.

“There were a group of people inside, and people were watching because it was flying just above the houses.

“It didn’t land at the school, so we were worried there was nowhere else it could stop apart from in the road or on people’s houses, which could have been quite nasty.”

But Chris Thomson was one of Jason Sanders took these photos of a hot air balloon flying low over South Ashford those aboard the HRGo balloon.

He said it was not true that it was near the rooftops.

He said: “It came in low to land, but stayed well clear of power lines and houses before landing safely in an empty school playing field.”

Later the balloon started to rise before it landed at Godinton Primary School about a mile away on the Godinton Park housing estate.

Picture: Jason Sanders