A suspected drink-driver ploughed into a row of parked cars, leaving a trail of destruction and four people trapped in a mangled wreckage.

Witnesses say the car was driving along Sweechgate in Broad Oak at just after 11.30pm on Friday when it smashed into four vehicles.

One resident, who had just arrived home from a fishing trip with his son, said the force of the crash sent his Jaguar X-type - which had been parked on his drive - flying down the road.

He then found his car, which was left in a crumpled mess and will now have to be written off, outside his neighbour’s house three doors down.

“The noise was like a firework - like a rocket,” he said.

“It just went bang, and I looked out my window and thought ‘where has my car gone?’.

“The carnage was unbelievable. It was horrendous.”

Neighbours then broke into the smoking and sparking vehicle that caused the smash, where four people were trapped, and called police and ambulance crews.

The driver and a female passenger were taken to hospital.

“If it had been earlier, my son would have been dead,” the resident continued.

“We had been parked on the drive and sat in the car talking, and had not long got in the house, so I’m a bit shocked.

“[The impact] just flattened my car in half. I drive a Jaguar X-type. They’re really strong cars, and he bent it like it was a piece of plastic.”

A police spokesman said: “Kent Police received a report of a collision involving five cars at 11.37pm on Friday, November 2, 2018.

“Officers along with the South East Coast Ambulance Service attended the scene in Sweechgate, Canterbury.

“A man was arrested in connection with the collision before being taken to hospital. A second person was also taken to a local hospital. Enquiries are ongoing.”