THIS was the scene as firefighters made their way down an East Yorkshire cliff to rescue a woman whose car had plunged 50 metres towards the sea.

The orange three-door car plunged down the slope, but landed on its wheels and the woman survived.

The accident happened at about 7.15am yesterday at Thornwick Bay, near Flamborough.

Humber Coastguard and Yorkshire Ambulance crews were alerted and worked with police officers and an RAF rescue helicopter to assist in the woman’s rescue.

A spokesman for Humberside Fire Service said firefighters stabilised the car at the foot of the 150-foot drop, almost as high as York Minster, then cut the roof from the vehicle to gain access to the woman. She was the only occupant of the car and has not yet been named.

The woman was winched to safety by an RAF search and rescue team from RAF Leconfield, then taken to hospital in Scarborough with head injuries, which the fire service spokesman said were not thought to be life-threatening.

A worker in the nearby Thornwick Bay Café, which was not open at the time of the incident, said the car had been recovered from the crash site by 12.30pm.

Clive Stephenson, watch assistant with the Humber Coastguard, said: “The woman was in the back seat of the vehicle when emergency services arrived, so the immediate concern for us was whether there was someone else in the vehicle who may have been walking around semi-conscious. That was not the case.”