A young woman says she is lucky to be alive after walking away from a terrifying car crash without a mark.

Lauren Benson was pulled to safety from the wreckage of her Peugeot 206 convertible after the crash on Ashford Road, in Kingsnorth.

The 20-year-old Hamstreet student was on her way home from the gym last week when she lost control of her car and swerved across the road.

The car then went through a hedge and somersaulted, landing on its roof in a ditch in a field.

Miss Benson said: “It was so scary. I could smell burning and all that was going through my mind was that the car was going to blow up.

“It had landed upside down so I crawled onto the roof to be upright but the doors were so bashed in that I was stuck.

“I tried to call my mum and she answered but because I had virtually no signal she couldn’t hear me properly and I was just screaming down the phone.”

Miss Benson then dialled 999 before police, ambulance and fire crews arrived at the incident.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service had to cut down the hedge she had smashed through just to get to the wreckage.

Firefighters then used cutting equipment to get through the passenger door and pull her free.

"I could smell burning and all that was going through my mind was that the car was going to blow up." - Lauren Benson

The physiotherapy undergraduate was taken to the William Harvey hospital for precautionary checks but, incredibly, escaped virtually unscathed.

She added: “Amazingly I don’t have any serious injuries, my neck aches so I’ve probably got a bit of whiplash but that is it.

“I am still quite shaken up though. It feels like a bad dream because I have got nothing to really show for it.”

Miss Benson said she was very grateful to the emergency services who attended and calmed her down.

She added: “The woman on the phone stayed on the line with me until the fire service got there. She just kept reassuring me that everything was going to be all right.

"They were all so lovely, caring and calming and did everything they could to make sure I was OK. I really can’t thank them enough.”