A car careered off a cliff-top road in North Yorkshire, plummeting 100 feet and seriously injuring its York driver.

The Ford Fiesta smashed through railings on the Esplanade, Scarborough, and plunged on to a footpath in the gardens below, narrowly missing walkers and visitors.

The incident happened at 10.18am yesterday, when the driver, a woman in her 70s, appeared to lose control of the green Fiesta while pulling away from a parking space.

She collided with two parked cars, a Vauxhall Vectra and a Peugeot 206, before smashing through railings between some seating at the top of the cliff. Police, firefighters, paramedics, coastguard officers and a rescue helicopter from RAF Leconfield all attended the scene of the accident.

Eyewitness Tracy Gosling, 23, of the Esplanade, said: "Her reversing lights came on and the back of her vehicle hit another car. As she was spinning round, she hit a second car. Suddenly, she must have hit the accelerator. Her car then shot forward and went over the cliff through the railings."

Updated: 10:24 Friday, June 17, 2005