A man has been left with with fractured vertebrae and a punctured lung after a serious crash.

A car and a pedestrian were involved in a crash in Southchurch Road, Southend shortly before 11.20pm last night.

The car, described as being dark in colour, failed-to-stop at the scene.

The pedestrian, a man in his 40s, was taken to hospital for treatment on fractured vertebrae, a punctured lung, and a ruptured diaphragm.

His injuries are being described as life-threatening.

This morning police have located a vehicle and a man was arrested on suspicion of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, failing-to-stop at the scene of a collision, and failing to report a collision.

He is currently in custody.

Officers need to speak to anyone who saw the incident or may have dash cam or CCTV footage of it and, in particular, are extremely interested to trace the movements of a dark-coloured Audi A5 between 10pm yesterday 8am today.

If you have any information call police on 101 quoting incident 1360 of 14 December or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.