A man is dead and another in hospital after a car crash on the A26 Tonbridge Road at Wateringbury last night.

A red BMW, travelling towards Tonbridge, left the road shortly after 7.10pm, rolled over and crashed into a service station forecourt at the Wateringbury crossroads.

The driver of the car - a man in his 40s from Hadlow - was pronounced dead at the scene. His family have been notified.

Another man who was a passenger in the car was taken to hospital. Police said he suffered minor injuries.

The crash caused a fracture in a gas pipe, which forced the Premier Inn, The Wateringbury pub and the Shell petrol station to be evacuated and several nearby roads were closed. The gas pipe was declared safe at 7.45pm. Repair work continued through the evening.

The A26 was closed until 11.45pm while emergency services dealt with the incident.

The evacuation began when police called the hotel, pub and petrol station and advised them to leave the premises.

A member of staff at the Premier Inn said they hit the fire alarms and 40 rooms were evacuated.

Forty-six people were moved to the Crown City chinese restaurant down the road in Teston, where they stayed until they were given the all clear at about 10.30pm.

Staff at the hotel said they believed the people in the car to be father-in-law and son-in-law.

A member of staff, who did not want to be named, said: "The car veered off at the zebra crossing and came between two posts. It flipped over the wall and onto the forecourt.

"There was a car at the furthest pump filling up. He (the driver) had gone in to pay and a girl was sat in the car.

"The car that had flipped over and gone on its roof hit that car and spun her around as well." They didn’t think she was hurt.

Staff said another car crashed on the same stretch of road last week.

The gas main was being repaired this morning by Southern Gas. They are re-laying a new pipe, putting a new meter in and a new pipe to the hotel.

Gas engineer Toby Goldsmith said: "The car smashed through the meter and had gone through the wall.

"It wasn’t likely to cause an explosion but it could if there had been the right combination of gas and air."

Any witnesses should contact police on 01622 798538.