Two dentists were on the receiving end of some painful root treatment yesterday when a tree fell on their surgery's car park. A massive 20m section of mature poplar crushed two cars and caused damage to two others – including dentist Dr Paul Greham's £25,000 Porsche. Dr Greham, 25, who only started work at the Roundhay Road Dental Practice two days ago, now faces a bill of at least £5,000 to have the red sports car re-sprayed. Slightly more fortunate was fellow dentist Rose Uppal, 26, who turned up to work in her mother's Rover 416 because her own car was at the garage for the day. The Rover was written off.

Branch decay is believed to have caused yesterday lunchtime's disaster. "I heard a massive bang, ran to the window and just thought 'Oh my god,'" said Rose. "I was mortified. I phoned my mum to tell her what had happened and had to hold the phone away from my ear as she was shouting so much. I've been trying to persuade her to get a new car for a while. I don't think she'll have a choice now. The fortunate thing was no one was hurt."

Dr Greham said: "I was working when one of the nurses came running in and said I might want to look outside as there was a tree lying on my car. I couldn't believe it when I looked out and saw it. It's going to cost thousands for a re-spray."

The police and Leeds City Council were called but no one was able to find the owner of the tree which straddles two properties. Gerry Sehmi, whose son owns the practice, said: "I wasn't too worried when I knew no one had been injured. It was just a good job no one was in their cars. "We decided to get the tree surgeons in as soon as we could and we'll work out where to send the bill later." Tree surgeons spent yesterday afternoon freeing the vehicles from the enclosed car park which backs onto Brookfield Avenue.

A spokeswoman for Leeds City Council said: "The tree's root had deteriorated or rotted.No-one was hurt and it has fallen onto a car parking area which is accessed via one of the drives at the back of the road. Our parks and countryside staff are investigating." A spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police confirmed officers had attended but said they would not be investigating the matter.