PEOPLE have been warned again to stay away from unstable clifftops.

Doug Chalk was walking on the shore in West Bay when he saw two people taking photographs on top of the cliffs.

He said: “I was horrified because there were so many people underneath them. If it had gone there would have been a mess for the coastguards to clear up.

“They are the guys I really feel sorry for. People who do these silly things don’t think about who has to clear up after them.”

West Bay coastguard station officer Mark Collins said these people put themselves, those under the cliffs and coastguards in danger.

He said: “What the people on the cliff don’t realise is what they are standing on is generally an overhang; whatever they are kicking out goes 100ft down and lands on the people below. Even one stone can be lethal. They are also endangering us who have to recover or do whatever is required under that cliff again to get the injured out.

“There are warning signs, it has been in the papers, but unfortunately people think nothing is ever going to happen to them. That is not the case as we all know.

“There are plenty of ways to see the sea but stood on the edge of the cliff when there is nothing underneath is not one of them.”

Lyme Regis harbourmaster Grahame Forshaw also warned people to stay off the Cobb and not risk lives. He said: “Please don’t do it. It is pretty silly.”

He said the last few mild winters had seen a bloom of algae on the Cobb, which despite treatment to remove it, meant the area could still be very slippery when wet.

He added: “Observe the high waves from higher land on Cobb Road, it is a much more dramatic view.

“I can fully understand that people want to get close; it is human nature to be curious but from a safety point of view it is dramatically dangerous, just keep away please.”

He said he had witnessed someone taken off the Cobb by a wave.

He added: “Fortunately he was deposited back on the wall by the next wave. He had a very lucky escape.

“Even at half tide you can still get high waves that could pick someone off the wall and if that were the case they would be dashed on the rocks below.”