This was the battered remains of an AA van which was shunted off the road when a car crashed into it.

The smash happened on the coastbound M20 between J8 (Leeds/Hollingbourne) and J9 (Ashford) yesterday.

Fortunately the AA driver, who was in the passenger seat at the time escaped serious injury, but was left shaken.

He had been trying to deal with a broken down car and both had stopped on the hard shoulder. The occupants of the broken down car were also unhurt.

Kent Police has not yet revealed if any driver has been arrested, but one driver who stopped to help slammed the behaviour of some motorists.

Mr Lewis, from High Halden arrived around 30 seconds after the crash and used his van to fend of the left-hand lane of the motorway to put some distance between the stricken drivers.

He said: "The AA van was left a total write-off. I heard the crash happened around 60mph and it was really lucky the driver was in the passenger seat and the van rolled off the motorway.

"While I don't know the exact details of this accident, it happened on a straight stretch of the motorway where visibility is very good.

"Even while I was doing the make-shift closure, there were still lorries getting too close and other drivers were trying to push their luck and stay in that lane when people could clearly see there had been an incident.

"I see it all the time where people ignore the closures, or the red crosses on the gantries. If everybody just concentrated a bit more, or weren't in so much of a rush the roads would be safer."

He also tweeted to say he had a new-found respect for traffic and highway officers.

A police spokesman said the first report of the accident was made just before 6pm.

They added: "One lane was closed for a short time while vehicles were recovered but was reopened by 8.20pm."

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