A woman and her daughter narrowly escaped death, when they got out of their car just before it was crushed by a falling tree.

Diane Chorley and 12-year-old Louisa had been driving along Charlcombe Lane, Bath, on Saturday when they were forced to stop by storm debris

Mrs Chorley, a head injuries counsellor at the city's Royal Mineral hospital, and Louisa got out to clear the road when they heard a tree creaking and looked up to see a 90ft beech tumbling.

"I just shouted to my daughter to run. We had just started running a couple of metres when it started to crash down on us," Mrs Chorley said.

Mrs Chorley feared the worst for Louisa

"There were these awful moments when I didn't know where my daughter was and I thought she had taken the brunt of it."

Tree surgeon Richard Handy said: "They were lucky.

"We are talking about some 25 tonnes I suppose and then there is the added pressure of it coming down at speed as well."

The car, which was destroyed in the accident, had been borrowed by Mrs Chorley from a friend who is working in India.

"I've got to send her the email to tell her what's happened but I can't do that at the moment because we haven't got any phone lines," said Mrs Chorley.