A 25-year-old man died after being impaled on the top of fencing after he was thrown from a car that crashed into the side of the Wyevale Garden Centre at Hereson Road at Ramsgate, shortly after 1am on Sunday.

The victim, from Ramsgate, was a family man. He has not yet been named by police.

A 31-year-old man, also from Ramsgate, is in a critical condition at the Queen Mother Hospital, Margate, with serious head and chest injuries.

It is thought that he was trapped in the back of the black Peugeot 406 and was freed from the wreckage by ambulance and fire crews.

Two other passengers, a 21-year-old from Broadstairs and a 25-year-old man from Margate were both thrown free from the car as it left the road and ploughed through a row of green bollards bordering the garden centre. They have been treated in hospital for minor leg, face and head injuries.

Paramedic Andy Smith from Thanet ambulance station was at the scene. He said: “It was one of the worst car crashes I have seen. The man who died was thrown further than the other two and he landed on spiked green railings that are about 12 feet tall. His injuries were so severe from the initial crash and he was certified dead at the scene.

“In my experience the car must have been travelling at high speed for it to have been launched such a distance when it hit the bollards and was flipped up into the air. It hit the building and ended up inside the compound facing opposite direction.

“This is a busy residential area - if this accident had happened during the daytime, it would have created carnage.”

Police are appealing for witnesses to the crash. Anyone who was driving in the area of Bromstone Road, Ramsgate Road or Hereson Road between 1.30am and 2am on Sunday is asked to contact PC Karen Whybrow in the Thanet Traffic Unit on 01843 222124.