Woman survives car cliff plunge

A coastguard team scaled the cliff to reach the woman

A woman escaped with minor injuries after her car plunged over cliffs in East Sussex and landed on a ledge.

Police, fire crews and coastguards were called to rescue the woman after her car went over Beachy Head near Eastbourne on Sunday at about 1330 BST.

The vehicle landed almost vertically on the ledge about 100ft down from the top of the cliff with the woman inside.

A coastguard team scaled the cliff to reach the woman who was then winched to safety and taken to hospital.

'Managed to walk'

The rescue operation took about an hour-and-a-half.

The woman was taken to Eastbourne District General Hospital to be treated for minor injuries.

A spokesman for Dover coastguard said: "Apparently when they got the woman up she managed to walk to the ambulance."

Police said they were investigating why the car went over the cliff.

The incident happened near to the Beachy Head Hotel and Restaurant, the coastguard said.