FOUR children had a narrow escape when a lorry ploughed into the garden where they had been playing just seconds before.

The four youngsters had gone inside for something to eat shortly before the truck came off the notorious A228 at Hoo, near Strood.

Shocked mother Kalwant Whaid, who was still in the garden at the time, said the vehicle missed her by about 15ft. Nobody was hurt but, in a bizarre twist, the lorry driver was bitten by a dog after he got out of his cab and had to go to hospital.

Mrs Whaid, 40, said: "We had all been outside and the children were playing and helping me with the weeding. Then I told them to go inside for a drink and a snack and about 15 to 20 seconds later the lorry came through. It was like having a train go through your living room."

The accident happened as Mrs Whaid's nine-year-old twin girls Priya and Preeti were playing with their cousins from Essex, Sharon and Shane, both 13.

The A228 has claimed 25 lives in 18 years. It has been the subject of a Medway Today newspaper campaign for improvements since the deaths of local youngster Morgan Robson and motorcyclist Robert Innes in August 2000.