Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett feared he was about to die when he suffered an accident that saw him dragged under his own car earlier this year.

The two-time Liberal premier was pulled under his car as it rolled down his driveway, before crashing through the front gates and onto the street outside his Melbourne home in late January.

“I thought I was going to die, I really did,” he told the You Cannot Be Serious podcast on Tuesday.

Mr Kennett said he drove home, got out of his car to put rubbish in his bins and “looked around and saw the car starting to roll back”.

“I stupidly tried to stop it, I couldn’t get into the car and I was dragged under it,” he said.

“The front door (of the car) was still open. The car kept rolling, I was very conscious that I had to keep my legs away from the front wheels.”

Mr Kennett said he clung to the driver’s seat to stop himself from being dragged further under his car as it crashed through his front gates.

“They weren’t picket gates, they were solid metal,” he said.

“I was squashed. The car rolled out onto the road and over the road, onto the other side of the nature strip and came to a halt. I did think my time had arrived,” he said.

Jeff I’m sorry to read about your accident @jeff_kennett . I wish you well in your recovery.

— Jenny Mikakos MP #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) April 14, 2020

Mr Kennett said he suffered bruising and was later admitted to hospital for a six-hour operation on his injured neck.

-with AAP