Report of car ‘hanging on cliff edge’ in Shanklin

We were contacted today by passionate VB reader, Linda Bassett, after hearing about a car that had been seen “hanging over the cliff edge” in Howard Road, Shanklin.

Shanklin cliff edgeWe set off to find out more detail.

Getting to the scene, it was clear that something substantial had hit the fence with sufficient force to knock the fence over and flatten a steel-reinforced concrete post.

How the vehicle had got there wasn’t confirmed, but to have caused that damage it must have travelled beyond the end of the road, down the wide footpath towards the cliff edge.

Sheer drop
It had come to a halt very near the end, fortunately, because the other side (as you can see from our photo below taken a short-distance along the cliff) there is a sheer drop, straight down to the beach below.

Police tape is stretched across the newly-created gap in the fence.

VB enquiries to the Police revealed the following …

Police can confirm they are investigating a report of a car found abandoned at the top of cliffs near Howard Road in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight.

Officers were called by a member of the public at 7.15am on Sunday, August 5, 2012.

These enquiries form part of an investigation into the behaviour of a vulnerable missing man who was later found by police on Ryde Esplanade yesterday afternoon (Sunday).

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