A WOMAN died when her car careered through a safety fence and plummeted over a cliff at a seaside beauty spot.

Denise Kendal, from South Shields, was alone in her car when it left the road, crossed a footpath and car park, mounted a raised kerb and crashed through a metal safety fence, before plunging nearly 100ft over cliffs at Marsden Grotto, South Tyneside.

The 42-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

The alarm was raised at 4.15pm on Wednesday after several callers reported seeing the Daewoo hatchback car disappear over the edge close to the Mardsen Grotto pub.

A spokesman for the Humber Coastguard said: "Sunderland Coastguard and the local volunteer life brigade attended, but it is now being handled by the police."

Police said it was yet to be established why the car had left the A183 Coast Road before the accident. It took recovery teams several hours to winch the vehicle back to the clifftop.

The death is the second at the scene in a matter of days. A 57-year-old local woman was found at the foot of the cliffs on Boxing Day and was pronounced dead at South Tyneside District Hospital.