A furious driver is calling for Operation Brock to be reviewed "before someone is killed" after his Mercedes was written off in a crash with a lorry.

Mike and Christine Campbell were on their way to Sevenoaks when they entered the London-bound contraflow on the M20 at Junction 9.

They were driving in lane two, about eight miles from Ashford, when a lorry in lane one clipped the back of the car, spinning the couple into the concrete barrier and leaving their vehicle facing the wrong direction.

Mr Campbell, 81, who was driving, said: “One moment we were just cruising on the outside lane at 50mph, but all of a sudden there was a smashing sound and we were pirouetting in front of a lorry and smashed into the barrier facing the wrong way.

“I’m sure the guy didn’t turn into us on purpose but he was in the hard shoulder lane, which is so narrow.

“He must have drifted over a bit, and we just happened to be up the side of him at the time.

“The fact that we are both alive is a miracle as we spun in front of a 50mph 44-tonne HGV.

“The driver was definitely shaken up too.”

Thankfully, Mr and Mrs Campbell and the lorry driver escaped without injury, but the couple’s Mercedes-Benz SLK350 was written off.

They had the car for 15 years and Mr Campbell, who lives in Willesborough, described it as his "pride and joy".

The pair were left "traumatised" by the incident and are now calling for the traffic management scheme to be scrapped.

“Operation Brock is going to kill somebody before long,” Mr Campbell added.

“I’m an experienced driver. I have done many thousands of miles all over the place.

“I’ve never had an accident and I’m here because highways has got this idea Dover is going to grind to a halt unless there is a concrete barrier between Maidstone and Ashford.

“The lanes need to be wider, or they need to get rid of it entirely because that road is a death trap.”

Mr Campbell wrote to Ashford MP Damian Green expressing his concerns, but the Conservative believes the road system is safe.

“The truth is it’s not been put on unnecessarily,” he said.

“There have been times, particularly over the last few weeks, where the traffic into Dover has been so intense that they needed to use those lanes for Brock.

“It’s like a dual-carriageway now which is why it is limited to 50mph not 70mph.

“I’m very glad he wasn’t hurt.

“But the point is, if you’re driving at 50mph you can stop in time so you don’t drive into the person in front.

“It’s physically impossible to put a hard shoulder next to the running lanes of Brock.”

'The narrow lane widths are fully compliant with safety standards...'

While the lanes are narrow, Sean Martell, head of service delivery at National Highways, says they fully comply with safety standards.

Commenting on the incident, which happened on Monday, July 11, he added: “We take safety on our roads very seriously and keep our road network continually under review.

“The incident which occurred within the M20 Operation Brock contraflow happened in the free recovery zone and was spotted immediately by our CCTV team.

“A recovery vehicle was dispatched and we warned other drivers of the obstruction ahead.

“The broken down vehicle was recovered and the carriageway safely cleared.

“The narrow lane widths when the Operation Brock barrier is in place on the M20 are fully compliant with safety standards.

“A reduced speed limit of 50mph is also in place for safety due to these narrow lanes.”