Nigel Coates had been delivering Christmas presents before the crash

Nigel Coates was in his BMW convertible on Gledhow Valley Road when the tree smashed into the back of the car, leaving him unscathed.

He said he had only picked his car up from a garage the night before as it had been stolen a few weeks ago.

"It was very close. It just dropped behind the headrests," he said. "It's basically a BMW M3 pick-up truck now."

Mr Coates said he was driving at about 35mph at the time: "I looked up and could see the tree. Instinctively I braked.

"Then I just ducked, which is when part of the tree hit the car and squeezed the car under the tree before it crushed the rest of it."

Mr Coates added: "There were quite a few people around and they came over to see if I was ok.

The tree crushed the rear of the car, leaving the front seats intact

"One said I should go and buy a lottery ticket with that kind of luck."

Mr Coates had been delivering Christmas presents and was heading for work when the accident happened on Thursday afternoon.

"I'd only just got the car back," he said, "so I was beginning to wonder if someone up there had got it in for me. It's been quite a morning."

The fallen tree was one of a number of incidents caused by high winds in the region.

Two lorries were blown over on the A1(M) in North Yorkshire close to the A59 junction, causing northbound lanes to be closed while a vehicle was removed.

The M62 westbound at East Cowick in East Yorkshire was down to one lane.