A woman has had a lucky escape when a car crashed through a garden where she had been sitting just minutes earlier.

The vehicle took out a fence, two benches and plant pots and came to rest embedded in a concrete garage.

"It made quite a mess," said Richard Farthing, whose home in Forge Meads, Wittersham, was where the crash happened.

"My wife, Joyce, had been sitting on one of the benches playing with our dog, Oliver, just minutes before. Luckily she had decided to come into the house."

"I heard a terrific bang and saw the car shoot across the garden. Neighbours thought a bomb had gone off..." - Richard Farhting

Mr Farthing, 72, was upstairs in the house when the crash happened at 4pm on Monday.

"I heard a terrific bang and saw the car shoot across the garden," he said. "Neighbours thought a bomb had gone off."

He called the emergency services and he and his wife, 64, helped get the woman driver out of the Nissan Qashqai.

"She was shocked and had whiplash but otherwise was OK," said Mr Farthing. "Goodness knows what happened.

"The vehicle came through our fence, up a 1ft step, shot across the 60ft garden demolishing a barbecue, two benches and some pots and ended up in the side of the garage."

The Farthing's garage - which contained tools, equipment and wood - had to be shored up before the car could be removed.

The vehicle remained at their home until yesterday today. The driver, thought to be aged 49 and from London, was taken to the William Harvey Hospital for treatment.

A Kent Police spokesman said the accident had been reported to them.