A man says he is still struggling to come to terms with witnessing the aftermath of a fatal car accident on Christmas Eve.

Ben Rist, 23, was on duty at the Crossways Dartford branch of Burger King in Crossways Boulevard, Greenhithe, when a man in his 20s was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing just outside.

The man, from Tyne and Wear, died at the scene after he was struck by a black Vauxhall Corsa at around 6pm.

Mr Rist, who has worked at the fast food restaurant for just a few months, was manning one of the drive-through counters and saw the accident from his window.

“I was making burgers but could see out the window that something had happened and was trying to figure out what it was,” he said.

“All of a sudden I saw blue flashing lights and the road was closed off.

“There were about three of us looking out while still trying to serve drive-through customers, but after that nobody else came in.

“The road was shut because of what happened. It was still shut when I left at 9pm, all the way down to Asda.

“We didn’t know that the guy had died but you could see people trying to resuscitate him, and all the ambulances so you knew something bad had happened.”

The identity of the victim has not yet been released by police but his next of kin have been informed. The car that hit him was later found in Bexleyheath and a man and a woman, aged 22 and 20 and both from Dartford, were arrested.

Both have been bailed until May 1 having been suspected of causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop at the scene of a collision and perverting the course of justice.

Mr Rist, from Chatham, continued: “On Christmas morning a few of us were talking about it on Facebook and how we could only think about how their family must be feeling on that particular day.

“There were two little boys that saw it with their mum and they came in and it was heartbreaking to hear about them seeing what had happened.

“I can’t imagine seeing something like that at four years old and it not affect Christmas, so we decided just to give them whatever they wanted to try to get that Christmas spirit back.

“It affected all of us and to make it worse, you hear that the person who did it just drove off. The police were really supportive. I have to compliment how supportive they were to the staff that day.”

Officers from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit are appealing for any other witnesses who may have seen what happened to come forward.

PC James Woodhams said the car involved suffered windscreen and headlight damage and was driven away towards the M25.

Anyone with information should call the witness appeal line on 01622 798538.