AN ARTIST was said to be lucky to be alive after he fell 100ft from cliffs at Torquay.

The 53-year-old man, from Orpington in Kent, is believed to have been trying to get down to the bottom of cliffs at Meadfoot to a scene he wanted to draw when he slipped and fell.

He was eventually winched to safety by a rescue helicopter.

Coastguards spokesman Pip Hall said: "The cliff edges are very crumbly and we would advise people to stay well clear.

"This man was very lucky to survive that fall."

Mr Hall said the rescue would have been more difficult had it not been for the helicopter because access to the man would have been much harder.

The man, who has not been named, is on holiday with his wife and suffered a head injury and a suspected broken arm and broken leg after falling from the cliffs near Kilmorie flats at the Ilsham Marine Drive end of the Meadfoot Sea Road at just after 9.30am yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon he was being treated at Torbay Hospital.

The man's partner watched and was reassured by Coastguards and paramedics throughout the rescue that lasted almost two hours.

Holidaymakers, passers-by and dog walkers gathered on the road and slipway as the red and white Coastguard rescue helicopter from Portland hovered above the injured man.

Speaking from the scene Peter Childs, from Torbay Coastguard, said they had requested a helicopter lift because easterly conditions were 'too unsafe'.

"There is quite a swell and because the casualty had fallen 100 feet we didn't think it wise to transport him by boat and so for his comfort we requested a helicopter lift," he added.

The Torbay RNLI inshore lifeboat with a doctor on board had already reached the injured man and was giving him medical treatment and stabilising him before he was rescued.

The inshore lifeboat peeled away from the base of the cliffs while the helicopter lowered a winchman and a spinal board and equipment to coastguards already working with the injured man.

The helicopter then flew away from the cliffs while the man was loaded on to a spinal board.

It then returned to winch him away from the bottom of the dangerous cliffs.

The man was transferred to Torquay Boys Grammar School playing fields where an ambulance was waiting to then take him to Torbay Hospital for further treatment.

Late yesterday the man was said to be 'stable and doing well' in hospital.