Charles Jackson opened his front door this morning to be greeted by the branches of a tree.

The entire front of his house in Preston Park Avenue, Brighton, was blocked by the fallen elm.

The door and windows were blocked by branches and the only way to reach the front of the house this morning was by climbing the tree - horizontally.

Psychologist Mr Jackson, 50, and his partner Ann Turner were sleeping in a back bedroom at the three-storey house when they heard a noise at about 3am.

He said: "I felt this thud and Ann asked what it was. But we just turned over and went to sleep. It wasn't until we got up that we realised what had happened."

The tree damaged a balcony at the front but, amazingly, no windows were broken and Mr Jackson's Citroen, parked in the front drive, was undamaged.

Mr Jackson said: "We were very lucky."