There was a shock for a former driving instructor when a 4x4 nearly ploughed into his cottage.

Home owner Phillip Carter heard a bang outside his home on the Wrotham Road, Gravesend, last Tuesday afternoon (February 12).

When he looked out, just inches from his wooden bungalow was a 4x4 Honda.

It had destroyed a fence but his home – and he – had a lucky escape.

But it wasn’t all down to luck. Mr Carter, 69, has spent £1,000 installing a motorway-style crash barrier after another car crashed into his home seven years ago.

The driver, believed to be a middle aged woman, had been travelling towards Wrotham along the A227 at about 2pm.

It is believed she had just passed Culverstone Primary School when another vehicle pulled out of Whitepost Lane, clipping her rear bumper and spinning her round.

The Honda mounted the kerb, crashing through bollards and into Mr Carter’s front fence, coming to rest on top of the crash barrier.

No one was hurt in the accident.

The metal barrier was installed by Mr Carter, whose bungalow is over 100 years old – after a police car on a 999 crashed into his fence in 2006.