‘Our car windscreen was cracked when a meteorite hit it from out of space’

A family was left shocked after their car windscreen was shattered by a falling piece of meteorite.

Paul Butler, 55, and his family were watching TV at home on Boxing Day when they heard a loud bang outside, but dismissed the noise as fireworks and went to bed.

The next morning, Paul went outside his home in Stratford-upon-Avon to discover his car windshield had been shattered, with a number of strange stones lying nearby.

But the plot thickened after his son Nathan, 12, discovered a small black shiny rock measuring around 2cm in length near the car which didn’t match with any other stones.

The eagle-eyed schoolboy put a magnet next to the rock which revealed it was magnetised, which is a tell-tale sign the stone came from outer space.

Online research later revealed the mysterious rock was likely a piece of meteorite which had plummeted to earth.

Nathan said: ‘I was looking around on the ground near the car and right by the front wheel was a black rock that stood out from all the others.

‘I wondered if it could possibly be a meteorite but wasn’t sure until we used a magnet and researched it online.’

Paul, who runs a firm providing forensic science equipment, added: ‘We all heard a loud bang in the night but didn’t think anything of it.

‘We assumed it was probably someone letting off a firework.

‘It was only when we came down for breakfast the next morning that I saw my parents’ car windscreen was smashed.

‘I went outside with Nathan and he was looking around and found this strange black rock.

‘It had a strange shape and looked like it had been burned.

‘After Nathan tested it with a magnet we looked online and it looked like it was a meteorite.

‘It is the only logical explanation for what caused the damage because it wasn’t there when my dad drove into the driveway.

‘It must have happened on the driveway. The glass was inside the car and was covering the dashboard and driver’s seat.

‘The impact looks like it splintered the glass and made a fair bit of damage but it’s very lucky no one was inside at the time.’

Paul’s parents Graham and June were forced to drive their Toyota to a nearby garage where they had to explain the billion-to-one cause of the damage.

Paul added: ‘We found out it was about a billion-to-one chance of a meteorite hitting the car in our driveway so we’ve started buying lottery tickets.’

Nathan plans to take the space rock into Myton School in Warwick where he attends, to show off to his classmates.

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