dbloom@thekmgroup.co.uk

It was like that iconic scene from The Italian Job – albeit on a smaller scale.

A pensioner's car was left teetering over the edge of a vertical drop after it smashed through a wall at the Total petrol station in Dock Road, Chatham.

The woman, in her 80s, was trapped in the driver's seat as the vehicle dangled over an 8ft gap for half an hour on Monday night.

People reportedly rushed to sit on the silver Hyundai to keep it balanced. Yet, despite the drama, the driver was uninjured and apparently unruffled.

One witness said: “There were four people sitting on the boot until the police and the firefighters arrived. She didn’t seem that bothered.

“She was parked forwards in the petrol station car park, so we think she just went into first gear instead of reverse.”

The scene mirrored the finale of The Italian Job, in which Michael Caine’s getaway truck dangles over a cliff with robbers at one end and gold at the other.

John Godwin, from Surrey, won a Royal Society of Chemistry prize in 2009 for working out how the bus could be balanced – but the passers-by in Dock Road had to act much quicker.

Police were called just after 7.30pm and two crews from Medway Fire Station winched the Hyundai to safety.

Firefighter Scott Jones said: “It had gone through a wall and was teetering on a bank, so we had to stop it going over.

“We attended and used our equipment to winch the car back onto the forecourt.”

No criminal charges will be brought over the crash.

A Kent Police spokesman said: “A woman driving a silver Hyundai was in collision with a wall in the vicinity of a petrol station. The driver did not suffer any injuries.”

Were you at the scene or driving the Hyundai? Phone the newsroom on 01634 227880.