A man had a lucky escape when a falling tree blocked a road in Fakenham today.

Edward Purchase, 50, was helping to cut down the tree in a garden on Holt Road when it unexpectedly toppled into the road.

Mr Purchase, who was up a ladder, ended up underneath but the weight of the tree did not land on him.

He was taken to hospital as a precaution, after suffering what were described as minor injuries.

Emergency services were called to the scene, near the junction with Lancaster Avenue, at around 12.20pm.

Police closed the road off in both directions, while firefighters helped free Mr Purchase from the branches.

Watch manager Gary Thorpe said: 'The gentleman was lying in the road, so we worked with the ambulance to get him extricated. He just had the tree over him.

'My understanding of his injuries is that appear to be small.'

Mr Purchase's stepmother Christine Purchase, who lives in the property, said: 'The trees are dangerous, they've got to come down, so my step-son said he'd come over and do it.

'I left them to it, the next thing I knew they said can I have a blanket, Edward's fallen in the road.

'I think it's just collapsed. It's smashed through the fence.'

Mrs Purchase said her step-son had been taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn as a precaution. Holt Road was blocked for almost an hour in both directions, as Mr Purchase's workmates chopped up the tree and removed it.