A car rolled more than 160ft down an embankment before stopping just short of a sea cliff at an historic Aberdeenshire beauty spot last night.
Police, ambulance and coastguard teams were called to the scene of the incident at Slains Castle, close to Cruden Bay, at around 4.15pm yesterday afternoon.
The man who had been driving the blue car, which was unoccupied when it came to a halt, was not seriously injured.
However, he was last night taken to hospital as a precaution.
A large section of the cliffs close to Slains Castle were cordoned off for several hours yesterday evening as a “co-operative retrieval operation” was carried out by teams from the coastguard and police.
Dog walkers and others who had been out for an evening stroll at the scenic cliffs watched the recovery team slowly bring the car back up the steep embankment, and it was safely recovered by 7.45pm.
The vehicle, a Hyundai Veloster, suffered significant damage in the incident.
The emergency services attended another incident at the castle in April after a dog – a beagle and pug cross – fell down a rocky cliff face and became stranded after hurting its leg.
However after an hour-long rescue mission the beloved pooch, named Scarlett, was reunited with its owner. Another dog was rescued by lifeboat late last year, and dog walkers have been warned to keep their pets safe at the popular location.