A FORMER Minehead lad is lucky to be alive after plunging 80 feet down a cliff at Kilve.

Matthew Vorley, aged 20, was feared to be seriously injured - but eventually walked away with little more than a few cuts and bruises.

He had been with a group of friends on top of cliffs near Kilve Beach when he tumbled over the edge.

Despite initially landing on his feet, the force of the landing somersaulted him over and he came to rest on his head.

Emergency services, including the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and a rescue helicopter from RAF Chivenor, were scrambled to the scene just after 4.30pm on Tuesday.

Coastguards and paramedics - who climbed eight feet up a rocky outcrop to reach him - feared Matthew had both serious head and spinal injuries and he was eventually winched off the cliff by helicopter.

He was taken to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton but was back home again in North Petherton by 9pm the same evening.

His grandmother Val Woolley, who lives in Tivington, told the Free Press her grandson was lucky to be alive.

She said: "He had a big cut on his head and some bruises and scratches but he's had a lucky escape.

"He put his foot on what he thought was a rock but it turned out to be a tree root and over he went.

"He's a very lucky lad as it's very rocky down there."

Watchet Coastguard Simon Bale said clifftops were potentially lethal places and warned people to take extra care.

He said: "This could easily have been fatal. As it was, it was a tricky operation to remove the casualty safely from the cliff and the joint partnership between the air ambulance crew, coastguards and RAF enabled it to work smoothly."