Gerald Sayers didn't have time to blink as the 50ft tree trunk crushed the roof of his van.

The 48-year-old was delivering meals on wheels to elderly people when the freak incident happened on a country road.

The trunk landed inches behind his head - but was prevented from going any further by a heavy-duty metal freezer.

Stunned onlookers thought no-one could have survived until they saw Mr Sayers showing the thumbs-up through the wreckage.

The tree came crashing down shortly after 11am yesterday in Down Street, West Ashling, near Emsworth.

Mr Sayers, who delivers meals in the Southbourne area for charity WRVS, said: 'I had just had my first trip doing the dinners.

'I was quite happily going along and the next thing I know a branch came down in front of me.The whole trunk came crashing down and landed just behind my head.

'Luckily, it hit the freezer behind my head. The freezer saved my life.'

A gardener ran over to help, but Mr Sayers managed to clamber out through the passenger door. He was shaken, but escaped without a scratch.

He said: 'If I had been half a second earlier, I don't think I would be here.

'If I was in a car I don't think I would be alive.'

Mr Sayers thanked his lucky stars for the metal freezer, which did not have any meals in it.

'It's quite a solid thing,' he added.

Fire engines were called to the scene, but Mr Sayers had already managed to scramble free of the wreckage.

He was taken by ambulance to hospital as a precaution and the road was closed while the fallen tree was cleared.

Mr Sayers, from Bognor, added: 'I think I have got a guardian angel looking after me.

'Last year a tree fell down in front of me not too far away from there, but I managed to stop in time.'

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