868

Approximately 5.20 PM.

Michael Hopkins:

"I was making my way home to Pontypridd after finishing work in Cardiff city centre, and as the traffic was heavy on the A470 direct route home, I decided to bypass the traffic and drive along Caerphilly Road instead. As I approached the crossroads with Ty Wern Road and Maes-Y-Coed Road in Birchgrove, I noticed a strange looking object in the sky in my 2 o'clock direction. I turned into Maes-Y-Coed Road and after about 150 yards, stopped the car.

I took my camera and started to take photographs of the object as it slowly glided in a south-easterly direction towards the Bristol Channel.

The object had the appearance of a hot-air balloon that had deflated in a tall vertical fashion connected to a shiny metallic area below it. I remember thinking how could a deflated hot-air balloon still fly?

By my reckoning it could have been approx 60 or 70 feet in height and appeared to be about 6 to 8 miles away. The weather was quite warm for the time of year with no noticeable ground level breeze."

Source: Michael Hopkins.

Location on map is witness' location.