A HOT air balloon came crashing down into trees but managed to pull off a safe landing on Bilford Road playing fields.

The commercial balloon was spotted by Evening News weatherman Paul Damari in the sky above his Barbourne weather centre.

"It looked like it was in a bit of trouble," said Mr Damari.

"My wife and I followed it down Droitwich Road and at one point I thought it was going to come down in the road."

At about 7.30pm last night the balloon came down hitting the trees.

"It was very dramatic," said Mr Damari.

"It hit the tops of the trees and the branches were cracking. We didn't know if there was going to be an explosion or if it was going to set on fire.

"That said, the pilot managed to land it a few yards away on the playing field."

Police were called to the scene, but ambulances were not called and no one was injured.

Despite the clear skies conditions for flying a balloon last night were difficult.

"Last night we had very still conditions," said Mr Damari.

"The ground wind speed was zero, and there was an inversion at about 1,000ft which is a layer of stable warm air.

"If the balloon gets under it, it is very difficult to penetrate."