A man whose £21,000 sports car was written off when a tractor shed bales of straw has spoken of the “surreal” experience.

Ian Price, 45, was having a drink with friends outside The Woolpack when he saw the tractor and trailer lose its load and heard the alarm on his three-year-old white Mercedes convertible sounding.

“It was quite surreal,” said Mr Price, of Appledore Road, Tenterden. “I heard the alarm sound so went over.

“A Vauxhall Zafira had been shunted into the back of my car by the accident.

“The car is a write-off because it is a convertible and the mechanism is in the boot.

“I had only just finished paying off the finance so had only fully owned it for three days.

“It was actually my wife Angela’s car and she had only lent it to me so I could pop into town – I was not very popular.”

Mr Price’s car was parked outside the Original Factory Shop.

The straw was shed along Tenterden High Street between Caffe Nero and Cafe Rouge.

Three cars were damaged and a lampost was flattened in the incident last Wednesday evening. Witnesses said it was lucky no one was injured.