Man survives 80ft fall after car plunges off Roedean Cliffs – claiming Red Bull had given him wings

A driver who miraculously escaped almost unhurt after his car plunged 80ft off cliffs at Roedean joked to emergency staff that a can of Red Bull he had drunk must have given him wings.

The man was able to climb out of his Ford Focus and wait on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff after his car left the A259 and hurtled over the cliffs, clearing the undercliff path below to land in the sea, shortly after midnight yesterday.

The Daily Mail reports that a member of the fire service who attended the incident said: “He just had a Red Bull – and it was that. That was making him fly.”

Crews from Brighton and Newhaven Lifeboat, Newhaven Coastguard, East Sussex Fire and Rescue and Sussex Police all attended the accident.

The man, who is from Worthing, was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital with minor injuries.

He has since been released and is recovering at home.

Newhaven Coastguard was among the many 999 services called to the scene.

Posting on its Facebook page, a spokesman said: “Miraculously the driver was able to get out of the vehicle and make their way to the rocks.

“Newhaven Coastguard sent a cliff technician down a ladder supplied by East Sussex Fire and Rescue from the promenade to the beach to join paramedics and fire personnel already with the casualty.

“A second ladder was installed to use as a slipway and the casualty was secured into Newhaven Coastguard’s rescue stretcher and then using some of our cliff rescue equipment we were able to slide the stretcher up the ladders.

“With nine members of various agencies on the three ropes and two of the Newhaven team at the top of the ladder we were able to bring the casualty up from the beach where they were handed into the care of paramedics.”

Brighton Lifeboat checked the car to make sure there was nobody else inside and the surrounding sea and beach were also searched in both directions.

The picture above, taken on a phone by a member of the Newhaven Coastguard crew, shows the car being inspected after the tide went out.

Newhaven Coastguard added: “With approximately 22 emergency service workers from various agencies as well as two lifeboat crews (Newhaven and Brighton) this was fantastic team work leading to a swift extraction of the casualty.”