The lorry driver who wrought off a police car and injured a recovery driver in a crash near Dover has been sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court yesterday.

John Barnes, 52, of Hopes Lane, Ramsgate, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

He was given a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to undertake 300 hours of unpaid work.

He was also disqualified from driving for two years and will have to take an driving test at the end of the disqualification period. Barnes will also have to pay £380 in costs.

The recovery driver was underneath a broken down Volvo car, preparing to tow it away from the A256, Sandwich Road near Waldershare, when the collision happened on June 14 last year.

The lorry first hit warning cones and then collided with the back of a Kent Police car parked behind the broken down vehicle to warn approaching traffic.

Detective Sergeant Scott Lynch from the Kent Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “The lorry driver had 100 metres of clear view of the obstruction, which was clearly signalled by the emergency flashing lights of the police car.

“Yet the driver failed to react to the hazard until the last minute and it was very fortunate that no-one lost their life.”

Police officers were forced to jump over the barrier at the side of the road to avoid the lorry.

“The driver failed to react to the hazard until the last minute and it was very fortunate that no-one lost their life.”- Detective Sergeant Scott Lynch.

The officers shouted a warning to the recovery driver who managed to pull himself out from under the car just as the police car was shunted into the rear of the broken down car.

The 40-year-old recovery driver from Broadstairs did not have enough time to fully get out of the way and the Volvo was pushed over his legs.

Following the collision he had to have surgery for a broken leg and was off work for several months.

The lorry driver claimed his view was obscured by the sun and did not see the police car until the last minute.