People living along a main road in Staplehurst had to be evacuated after a car damaged a gas main.

The accident happened about 7.20am today on the A229 Maidstone Road, near Clapper Lane.

It involved a white Ford Transit van and a car which then struck a gas main.

Janice Goodwin, who lives in Maidstone Road, was told to grab a few possessions and leave her house, while urgent repairs to the gas main were carried out.

Speaking from the side of the road, she said: "We thought one of the cars had hit the gas main, as we heard the crash and you could hear and smell the gas.

"Police told us to leave the house, so I grabbed my puppy and my phone and left."

A woman in the car suffered a minor shoulder injury and was trated by ambulance crew.

The road re-opened at 10.10am.