An elderly woman who was hit by a car and suffered serious injuries to her arm is now in a stable condition in hospital.

The woman was hit by a car on a pedestrian crossing on Maidstone Road, Chatham, at about 3.20pm on Friday.

The pensioner, who is in her 80s, suffered a serious arm injury and an injury to her hip and head and was taken to Kings Collage Hospital in London by the Kent Air Ambulance crew.

She was knocked down by a silver Ford Focus as she made her way across the road and had earlier been shopping at Homebase in Horsted Retail Park nearby.

The woman was walking back towards the junction with Watson Avenue on the other side of the road when the collision happened.

One witness, who did not want to be named, said she had successfully navigated the first set of traffic lights and was hit about three-quarters of the way over the second.

“I was out the front in the garden and heard the bang,” said the witness, who lives a few doors down from the junction.

“She was a very lucky lady in the sense that as it happened there was an ambulance coming down the other side of the road, coming out of Watson Avenue there was another one, and behind that was a doctor.

“They kept her laying in the road for an hour or an hour-and-a-half before they moved her.

“She was in a mess, she had a horrific arm injury and it wasn’t nice at all.”

Police said today she was still in hospital receiving treatment, but her injuries were not thought to be deemed life-threatening.

The road was shut until around 7.30pm while police and ambulance crews attended the scene, with another neighbour spotting the air ambulance.

One resident said: “You put your life in your own hands” when you try to cross Maidstone Road, with cars said to regularly jump lights due to their speed.

The driver of the car involved in the collision did stop and nobody has been arrested.

Police have appealed for witnesses to come forward. As part of their investigation it is thought officers have been examining CCTV footage from Homebase to check on the woman’s movements before she left the store and crossed the road.

Witness Shell Wray commented online: “This happened as I was on my way home, was awful.

“Take my hat off to the four ambulances, three police vehicles and air ambulance crew for such an incredibly quick response.”

Some traffic was being diverted around the Davis Estate but lorries and buses were being turned around at the Horsted roundabout and sent back towards Chatham.

Officers from the police’s Serious Collisions Investigation Unit would like to speak to witnesses who have not yet spoken to them.

Anyone who saw the collision or the victim prior to the incident, or has any other information, can call 01622 798538 or email sciu.td@kent.pnn.police.uk, quoting reference RY/GD/161/17.