Emergency crews dealt with three crashes on the same stretch of road this morning, which happened within minutes of each other.

The first smash happened on the London-bound stretch of the Thanet Way at 6.53am, and involved two cars.

Just two minutes later, a further three cars were involved in a pile-up half a mile down the road, near Yorkletts.

About half an hour later, there was another crash - this time on the coast-bound carriageway of the Thanet Way, near Whitstable.

Emergency crews were called to deal with all three accidents, and there were long tailbacks stretching past the Clapham Hill exit for Whitstable.

Fire crews were among the response teams, and freed a man who was trapped in his car. He was handed over to the care of paramedics.

A police spokesman said: "Kent Police was called at 6:53am to a report of a road traffic collision involving two vehicles on the A299 Londonbound, at Dargate. There are no reported injuries.

"Shortly after the initial incident, three further vehicles were involved in a separate collision approximately half a mile further back on the Londonbound A299, near Yorkletts.

"This incident was reported at 6:55am and one man is receiving treatment at the scene.

"A third collision was reported at 7:29am on the coastbound carriageway, near Whitstable, involving three vehicles. No serious injuries have been reported."

There were long delays in the area for several hours after the crashes, and side roads became clogged by drivers trying to find alternative routes.

All three crash scenes have now been cleared and vehicles have been recovered.

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