A man fighting for his life in hospital after being hit by a car in Folkestone is a cafe owner who was serving customers outside when he was struck, it has emerged.

Ali Dalkilic, who runs the Captain's Table cafe on The Stade, was knocked down on Saturday morning in front of horrified onlookers.

Now Mr Dalkilic's son has told how he remains in a critical condition in hospital as a police investigation continues.

Emergency services including paramedics were called at about 10.50am. The air ambulance later landed next to the kiosk at the end of The Stade.

Mr Dalkilic was flown to St George's Hospital in London with life-threatening injuries, including severe injuries to his head, leg and chest, after receiving treatment for more than an hour at the scene.

His son Orhan said his father remains in a critical condition, but is now stable.

He said: "His injuries are still life-threatening. Both his legs are broken and his right-hand wrist is broken. There's going to be an operation when he's stable enough on his left thigh.

"It's still critical because his lungs collapsed and he's on a ventilator.

"There were a lot of paramedics. We would like to thank them all for everything they did and all the local people down there for their support and who tried to keep us calm and would thank everyone involved."

Orhan added: "When we first arrived at the hospital we were told it might take two to three weeks but that's not 100%.

"They tried to wake him up on Monday and we saw him blinking which is a good sign and they're going to try and wake him to see whether he responds and see if his brain is damaged.

"But he's responding to our voices and he's trying to move and we're relieved about that and believe it's a good sign."

Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash involving a silver Peugeot. The driver of the car was uninjured.

The area was cordoned off for three hours while detectives from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit examined the scene.

Witnesses are asked to phone the appeal line on 01622 798538 quoting reference 21-0563.

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