A YORK family had a lucky escape when a large tree came crashing down right beside their house.

York was hit by gale force winds overnight on Tuesday into Wednesday, and worse weather is yet to come with wintry showers set to hit the city as part of an Arctic blast.

Vanessa O’Connor, of St Aelreds Mews, in Derwenthorpe, was starting her cleaning shift at Central Library in the early hours of Wednesday morning when she received a phone call from her husband.

He told her a huge tree had narrowly missed smashing through her home.

The tree’s branches scraped the side of the new build home, but left the home unscathed, much to the relief of mum-of-six Mrs O’Connor.

She said: “When I got up at 4am on Wednesday I could hear the wind howling because there’s an empty field opposite the house.

“My partner called me about it when I was at work.

York Press:

“I was expecting to see the tree in the street when I got home but I didn’t realise how big it was.

“We had a lucky escape because my 16-year-old daughter was in bed in one of the rooms it nearly hit.”

The first snow fall is expected to come on Friday, and will see coastal parts of North Yorkshire and the North York Moors worst hit.

The weekend will consist of widespread frost, snow showers and more wind.