A VAN driver cheated death when his vehicle hit a tree which police say had been deliberately felled and left across a dark country lane near Middleham.

Police say two trees had been cut down with chain saws in the early hours of Wednesday and laid across the main Leyburn road and a minor road to Harmby.

A branch which speared the van windscreen narrowly missed the driver, who was on the Harmby road. Earlier, a Vauxhall Vectra was badly damaged when it collided with the tree, but the driver escaped injury.

Police are unsure whether the incident is connected with an attempted burglary at Middleham post office, which happened at about 4am, around the same time the trees were reported.

Burglars broke into the post office and struggled with the alarm while trying to get into the safe. They fled empty handed.

DC Chris Burton, of Richmond police, said it could be sheer coincidence that the two incidents happened around the same time, but officers could not ignore the possibility that the roads were deliberately blocked to prevent police chasing the thieves.

"A person with local knowledge might well have thought that these were the roads police might have used to get into Middleham and blocked them to give extra time for a getaway," he said.

He described it as a crazy and stupidly dangerous incident, which could easily have cost lives.

The drivers of both vehicles could have been badly hurt or killed if they had been travelling faster.

Anyone with information regarding the trees should contact CID on 01609 789350 and anyone who saw anything suspicious in Middleham market place area around the time of the post office raid should contact 01609 789358.