Young driver airlifted to hospital after car plunges off cliffs at Beachy Head

The car landed on the beach at the notorious suicide spot near Eastbourne

Beachy Head and other cliffs in East Sussex have suffered from protection being given to areas further west, as well as bigger waves caused by climate change, researchers say (Getty)

A young driver has been airlifted to hospital after his car plunged off cliffs at Beachy Head.

The 20-year-old's car landed on the beach at the notorious suicide spot near Eastbourne, East Sussex, at 3pm.

He was winched by a Coastguard helicopter and flown to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. Sussex Police said the severity of his injuries was unclear.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) spokeswoman said a member of the public raised the alarm following the cliff plunge.

Coastguard teams from Eastbourne and Birling Gap, Eastbourne RNLI, the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance and East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service were also sent to the scene, Coastguards said.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "Emergency services were called to Beachy Head, Eastbourne, to a report of a car having gone over the cliffs on Wednesday at 3pm.

"The vehicle was found to have landed on the beach area.

"The driver, a 20-year-old man, was winched up to the Coastguard helicopter and flown to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton. It is not clear at this stage the level of his injuries."

Press Association