THE family of a joiner said he had an amazing escape after his car was hit TWICE by falling trees in today's gales.

Andrea Bell said her husband was lucky to escape uninjured when his Mitsubishi Shogun collided with a fallen tree as he drove to work.

But as police officers arrived to help recover the damaged vehicle, a second massive tree fell from the roadside and completely crushed it.

Mrs Bell, 39, of Rosemary Court, Easingwold, said it was a miracle that no-one was badly injured in the remarkable chain of events.

The mother-of-two said: "Some might think this is comical, but it's not. I'm absolutely relieved because that's the closest he will get to a brush with death.

"We are just totally thankful that no-one has been hurt. The police officers saw that the tree was precarious and moved away. Then it fell."

The first accident occurred as Mr Bell drove along Stillington Road, less than a mile from his home, at about 6.30am as gusts in the city reached up to 80mph.

He said: "There were some police blue flashing lights in the road, but they had been blown flat by the wind.

"I moved out to avoid them, put the lights on full and then - bang - I was in the middle of the tree." Mr Bell, 48, said the car was left undriveable so he moved it to the side of the road and walked home after calling the emergency services.

But within 30 minutes, a second tree fell from the roadside and smashed the driver's side of the £25,000 four-wheel drive vehicle. Mr Bell said that if he had still been inside he would have been crushed to death.

He said: "It came down just yards from the police. They had heard the tree creaking and moved away and it was just as well otherwise they would have got it as well.

"I'm laughing about it now but it could have been really bad," said Mr Bell.

"We'll just have to see what the insurance company have to say."

Mrs Bell said council employees had already arrived to start removing the tree.

Updated: 12:03 Saturday, January 08, 2005