A 71-year-old motorist miraculously escaped serious injury when plunging 80ft down a cliff - and walking from the wreckage.

The pensioner then immediately apologised to rescuers for causing so much trouble after they had come to his aid.

The man plummeted down the cliff face at Brook on the Isle of Wight after his blue Vauxhall Corsa left the road at 7pm last night and travelled several hundred yards across a field. Amazingly, he was able to get out of the wrecked car himself before rescuers - alerted by a call from the public - arrived to winch him on a stretcher back to safety.

Ray Morey, station officer at Needles Coastal Rescue Team, said: "He was very lucky after falling so far. I would say he plunged about three times the height of a house.

"He was OK - he was talking and concerned he had caused so much trouble."

Police, who have launched an investigation into the incident, were joined at the scene by paramedics who took the man, from Freshwater, to St Mary's Hospital, Newport, where his condition is described as comfortable.

It is thought that the man may have swerved to avoid a fox, although another initial report spoke of a collision with another vehicle. However, the distance travelled by the motorist across the field after leaving the road has puzzled the owners of the land.

Den Phillips, tenant farmer at Compton Farm, said: "It is a big field and I would say it is about a quarter of a mile away from the cliff. It seems ludicrous that he could have gone over the cliff.

"All I can think of is that he got very confused and panicked because he did not know where he was. The car is jammed in between two huge rocks on its side.

"How he ever managed to get out of that car is a miracle. It is a miracle that he is alive. It is a huge drop."

Mr Phillips said it was not the first time that a motorist had left the road on the particular coastal stretch. He said: "It has become a regular thing for us to have to repair the fence.

"Once a double-decker bus had an accident there."