A NORTH Yorkshire road had to be closed today after an articulated lorry was blown over by high winds.

The curtain-sided truck was travelling on the A162 between the South Milford and A63 roundabouts, near Selby, when it was blown across the road.

It ended up on its side on a roadside embankment. The driver is understood to be shocked but uninjured.

Tadcaster firefighters arrived on the scene to find the lorry's engine still running and acid leaking from the batteries.

A fire service spokesman said: "We isolated the engine and made the batteries safe."

He added: "This stretch of road is flat and open and the wind was whipping across. It was unbelievably strong and you had to lean into it just to stand up.

"When we opened the fire engine door, the gale force wind nearly ripped it off."

The road was closed for about two hours while the lorry was recovered by towing trucks.

Meanwhile, a motorist was taken to hospital with minor injuries when his car collided with a fallen tree on the A64.

The man, 27-year-old Mesat Karabacak, from Pickering, was taken to York District Hospital after the accident, which happened just after 4am.

High winds are thought to have caused the tree to fall on to the eastbound side of the road at Barton-le-Willows, near Malton.

The driver's Seat Ibiza suffered slight front-end damage and the road was cleared by 6.35am.

Passengers on an Arriva train travelling to York from Leeds were delayed by 40 minutes when the train struck a fallen tree at Weeton, near Harrogate, at about 6.30am.

Updated: 15:07 Friday, December 28, 2001