An elderly woman had to be freed from her car after it flipped onto its roof on a dual carriageway.

The 80-year-old’s silver Peugeot 206 crashed on the Sittingbourne-bound stretch of the A249, near the Stockbury roundabout, at 2.30pm today (Friday, October 26).

Firefighters were called to help rescue the woman, who was still upside down in the car.

Watch manager Mat Barney praised an off-duty traffic officer who had been one of the first on the scene.

“He did a sterling job. He had crawled inside the car through a broken window and comforted the lady, which was nice. If it had been my mum, I would have been over the moon.”

An ambulance officer who happened to be passing also stopped and administered first aid.

It took 40 minutes to release the woman from the wreckage in a joint operation involving firefighters from Sittingbourne, Maidstone and Larkfield, as well as ambulance staff and police.

Mr Barney added: “We didn’t want to rush anything. We cut the rear seats out and the tail gate. The lady had twisted so we straightened her out and put her on a long board.

“It was lashing down with rain so we made an impromptu screen and gave the lady blankets to make her a bit more comfortable.”

The road was closed while the emergency services worked to free the woman, who had suffered cuts to her hands and face.

She was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital in Gillingham.

The A249 was reopened about an hour and a half after the accident.