A WORKMAN from York says he is lucky to be alive after a tree hit him on the head and trapped him when it came down in high winds.

Gary Precious, 55, of Clifton Moor, was working with his son, Bradley, in the garden of a property at Newport in East Yorkshire, when Mr Precious heard the tree snap.

He said: “My son was standing on a pair of steps. The next thing I knew I heard a crack then I was laid underneath a tree. I was trapped underneath it.

“It all happened in seconds. I think even if I had seen it I wouldn’t have been able to get out of the way in time.

“We had noticed there was branches and twigs blown of the tree, but the next thing we knew was that it was down.”

Bradley, 25, said: “I shouted ‘look out’ when I heard the crack and saw something moving, but it was that quick I just couldn’t even think.”

His father was eventually able to free himself with help from the owner of the house.

The tree was an ash, but is not believed to have been affected by the ash dieback disease, which has recently been reported in the region.

The accident happened about three weeks ago, while they were fitting new soffits and fascias to the house.

Mr Precious is now back at work despite suffering two broken bones in his hand and a cut to his ear and head, but said the incident could easily have been a lot worse.

He said: “If it had hit me directly on the head it would have killed.

“I think I was really lucky but didn’t realise how lucky at first. If we had been where we were a few seconds earlier we would have been killed.”