With vehicles left just feet from the cliff edge, residents who live near this impromptu car park fear it is an accident waiting to happen.

The hot spell has resulted in thousands of people flocking to Saltdean, leaving the town's car parks overflowing.

With nowhere to park, some motorists have been driving along a service road to the seafront cafe, ignoring access only signs, driving up a grassy bank and parking close to a thin wire fence on the cliff top.

At one point last weekend, 30 cars were parked on the cliff edge between Saltdean and Rottingdean.

But people who live nearby fear it could end in tragedy if a car were to plunge 100ft over the cliff edge on to the crowded beach below.

Former Brighton mayor John Blackman, who lives in Saltdean Drive, said: "You can already see fissures in the chalk and all it needs is for the weight of cars to make it worse.

"There could be a cliff fall endangering the lives of people on top and below."

Anthony Evans, 66, of Bannings Vale, said: "If something is not done the whole of the cliff top will become one huge car park.

"It is just a matter of time before one car rolls off or slips over the cliff top with disastrous results."

Rottingdean councillor Lynda Hyde said: "I shall be asking council officers to look at ways of sorting out this problem."