TWO women narrowly escaped injury when 15 metres of scaffolding were blown from a building.

The scaffolding fell from the side of the Tourist Information Centre in Malton just after 2.30pm on Monday, clipping one woman lightly on her side and causing a huge dent in another woman’s car.

The scaffolding was put up in the first place to protect the public from falling roof tiles.

Ruth Hogarth, a retired hospital worker from Norton, whose car was dented, said: “I’d just come into town with my daughter Debbie, who needed to go to the bank.

“She went off and I was sat in the car and I got a bit bored, so I decided to go and look for some bird seed to put out in the garden.

“I’d just got out of the car when there was a cracking sound and a large bang, and I saw the scaffolding fall off the side of the building.

“It only just missed another woman who was walking by – she said it had clipped her lightly.

“It’s hit the bonnet of my car, but if I had been parked another few feet forward in the parking space it would have gone through the windscreen.

“It is frightening that I could have been killed if I hadn’t got out of the car, or if we’d parked differently.

“My stomach is still churning, put it that way. It is inconvenient because we can’t move the car until someone moves the scaffolding.

“They are going to have to mend it and that is all there is to it.”

Ian Stavely, facilities manager at Ryedale District Council, said: “The scaffolding has stayed put for two months during other high winds, but we need to know why this wind took it off.

“We take the safety of the public very seriously and we are most surprised that this has happened because we only use diligent contractors.

“The scaffolding was put up because we have a problem with the roof and roof tiles could have fallen off and hurt people. We will be launching a full investigation into this incident.”

A council spokesman said yesterday that they had already met with the company who put up the scaffolding.