TWO men had a lucky escape when their car careered into the forecourt of a petrol station and narrowly missed colliding with a petrol pump.

The car came off the Sittingbourne-bound road of the A249 at Detling Hill and onto the forecourt of the Shell garage.

The car hit a high kerb and was badly damaged, but avoided a collision with any of the petrol pumps.

The two men, thought to be in their early 20s and travelling to the Canterbury area, were not seriously hurt. One suffered slight discomfort to his leg, but declined help from Kent ambulance staff.

Both of the airbags in the car were deployed during the accident which happened at about 11.25pm on Monday night.

Two fire engines from Blue Watch, Maidstone, attended the incident. "It could have been quite serious," said Sub Officer David Giuralarocca.

"They were very lucky. There is potential for explosion there."

Firefighters used buckets of sand to absorb petrol which had spilled from the car, and isolated the battery to make it safe.

Shell staff closed the petrol station during the incident.