A lorry driver who ploughed a vehicle packed with steel into a line of rush-hour traffic, leaving a man with serious injuries has been jailed.

Vygantas Stanulis smashed into the back of a Ford Fiesta at 50mph after taking his eyes off the road.

The car was then pushed forwards, slamming into the back of a lorry laden with wooden pallets.

Harrowing footage shows the Fiesta's bonnet crumple and the windscreen fly out, while the dual carriageway is left strewn with the flatbed's wooden cargo.

The driver of the Ford Fiesta, a man in his 20s, was left with multiple injuries including a fractured skull, two fractured vertebrae, a fractured ankle, knee and shin bone and facial injuries.

Witnesses said the lorry did not slow down as it approached the line of traffic.

The 55-year-old from Lithuania only attempted to brake about half a second before smashing into the Fiesta.

Visibility had been clear and the roads had not been icy on the morning of January 19, the day of the crash, police said.

Stanulis had previously denied the charge, but on Monday, the first day of his trial, he pleaded guilty and was jailed for a year for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Kent Police Constable Celia Weller said that Stanulis had shown remorse for the crash on the A2 near Canterbury, adding: "Stanulis told us he had taken his eyes off the road for a second to look at two lorries parked in a layby.

"He described it as a momentary lapse in concentration.

"Stanulis didn't set out that morning to cause harm and he is still coming to terms with what happened.

"The victim still faces operations on his face and knee and will live with the consequences of this collision for a long time."