Margate RNLI D class inshore lifeboat ‘Alfred Alexander Staden’ Photo: RNLI Margate
Margate RNLI’s inshore lifeboat was called to assist and support the emergency services after a car was reported to have plunged over the cliff and was on its roof on the beach at Grenham Bay.
UK Coastguard alerted Margate RNLI at around 12.30pm on Friday 6 May, following reports that a car had gone over the cliff at Birchington-on-Sea.
At least one person was believed to be in the car. The town’s D class inshore lifeboat was tasked and once on scene located the car, on its roof and on the rocks below the promenade at Grenham Bay.
Shore-based emergency services were already on scene including Kent Police, Kent Fire and Rescue and South East Coast Ambulance Service. Margate Coastguard Rescue Team also responded.
The shoreside agencies were attending to the sole occupant of the car and the lifeboat crew assisted them in transferring the casualty to an ambulance.
As the tide was coming in and the car would become submerged the lifeboat crew were asked to remain on scene and provide seaborne support while Kent Fire and Rescue arranged for the car to be recovered to the promenade by a lorry with a HIAB-type crane that was working nearby.