A man wearing swimming trunks has been rescued after trying to climb the cliffs at Blackpool Sands.

Emergency services were called to the beauty spot on Monday, July 5, after he got stuck attempting to scale Matthews Point from the beach.

The coastguard could not reach him from the top of the rock face, so the man had to be winched to safety by helicopter.

An eyewitness described seeing him struggling on the rocks in swim shorts – causing unstable stones to fall to the ground below.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, was walking with her partner and 15-month-old daughter when it happened.

She said: “As we walked down to the beach we saw a man in just shorts climbing up the rock face.

“My partner and I both commented on what a stupid and irresponsible thing to be doing.

“As he was trying to pull himself up he was pushing any rock that was loose onto the beach below.

“We got to the road and the coastguard appeared - we flagged him down and described where he could locate the silly man.

“He had obviously got so far but due to the dense spikey bushes above and - maybe having overexerted himself - got stuck!

“The local helicopter was out on a call so one travelling from out of the area had to assist.”

She said about 12 people were involved in rescuing the man.

“At least two or three hours after he got stuck we saw him return to his car - looking a bit tired and sunburnt - still just in shorts,” she added.

The Dartmouth Coastguard said: “The rescue was of a male who had climbed onto a ledge and become stuck near to Blackpool Sands beach.

“Despite best efforts by our cliff rescue team the terrain proved too difficult to effect a safe extraction.

“The search and rescue helicopter was tasked and a winch recovery rescue was performed.

“Luckily in this instance, the casualty was unharmed and reunited with his family.”