Bystanders watched in shock and suspense as a 200kg bollard rolled down a town centre street, narrowly missing a parked car and pedestrian.

Video footage from Terrace Tavern Food and Wine off licence shows the bollard rolling down The Terrace in Gravesend yesterday after being hit by a lorry.

“At that moment I was coming out to get some fresh air when I saw the bollard coming past me,” he said. “I thought ‘really?’

“We’ve had accidents here before but this was a new one because the lorry came the wrong way up. It came from the clock tower.”

The video also shows how the lorry had come the wrong way up Harmer Street, which is a one-way street, before trying to turn the wrong way into The Terrace, also a one way street.

“I heard something crash,” added Amit. “You can hear the lorry crash against something on the video. Then it was rolling past.

“That’s a heavy piece of bollard. I think it’s about 200kg. Luckily there wasn’t much footfall because someone could have been injured. It could have caused some serious damage.”

Amit said the bollard seemed to be heading straight for a BMW, which was parked on double yellow lines, but then swerved across the road.

It then crashed into the front of an office, and rolled back over the road where it came to a stop just yards from a woman walking with shopping bags.

“It was a miracle quite frankly,” said Amit. “I thought it was just going to ride over the car. It was a nice BMW. Somebody had parked it on double yellow lines.”

He said he had tried to get the lorry driver to stop, but he had driven off after inspecting the damage.

“I think the lorry had some damage but it was trying to reverse. I said ‘are you crazy? What are you trying to do?’ There were two people in the lorry – one was driving and the other had his head in his hands.

“The driver got out for a bit – he didn’t realise how much damage he had done. He took something that was hanging off the lorry and put it inside. Then they drove off.”

Kent Highways said they had been made aware of the incident, which happened on Monday, and a highways steward had been dispatched to assess the damage.

Kent Police have been approached for further comment.