A DIGGER driver working at the bottom of a 35ft deep hole had a miracle escape when a 20-tonne excavator came crashing down towards him.

He watched in horror as the giant machine hurtled downwards, turned upside down - and then stopped in its tracks just a few feet above the mini digger.

Miraculously, the excavator's mechanical arm had hit the floor, supporting the machine as it leaned against the concrete-lined wall of a new sewage collection tank.

Unable to believe his luck, the driver of the tiny digger jumped out and scrambled up a ladder to safety.

Firefighters said today he was the "luckiest man alive."

Bob Hoskins, sub officer at Tadcaster Fire Station, said: "If the arm had given way, it would have flattened the mini digger.

"To say he escaped without a scratch is unbelievable."

A neighbour whose garden overlooks the site told the Evening Press that she felt her whole house shake when the excavator fell into the hole.

She said: "I was in the bedroom when I heard an almighty crash. I looked out and saw that the excavator had disappeared.

"It's an absolute miracle that no-one was killed."

The drama unfolded yesterday near The Fairway, off Stutton Road, Tadcaster, where Yorkshire Water is in the middle of a £800,000 scheme to replace sections of sewer to combat sewer flooding.

The excavator was sitting at the top of the hole, so it could lower a skip down for the mini digger to fill, when it toppled over.

The excavator driver suffered head injuries, which are not thought to be serious, and was taken to York Hospital.

The work is being done by sub contractors.

The site was immediately sealed off and an investigation by the Health & Safety Executive is under way.

A Yorkshire water spokesman said they were co-operating fully with the investigation.

He said he was unable to release the names of the two drivers involved.

Updated: 09:14 Saturday, March 12, 2005