Two farm workers had a lucky escape when they repaired the wreckage from a road accident - only to be nearly hit by an out of control lorryload of dead turkeys.

David Blades, Hovingham Estate Manager, and tractor driver Martin Fenwick were mending a fence on the Hovingham Park road at about 9am.

A gaping hole had been left in it by a bread delivery van skidding on ice and crashing through about half an hour earlier.

Then, at about 9.20am, the heavy lorry skidded and crashed through the fence - just feet away from where David and Martin were working.

David said: "I suppose it was a lucky escape, but at the time you don't think of that, you just think of protecting yourself and getting out of the way.

"It was close though - we were mending the section of fence the bread van had hit, and the lorry went through the next section. I would say it was eight or nine feet away, no more than that, so we should be thankful really."

David said the cause of the two accidents was obvious - an icy road that hadn't been gritted.

He added: "The road was like glass. It always is when it gets icy as they haven't gritted down there for years. People are always going to skid on a surface like that."

A police spokesman said that both occupants of the lorry were taken to Malton Hospital by ambulance, but were not seriously injured.

Updated: 08:23 Wednesday, January 10, 2001