COASTGUARDS today accused a Hampshire climber of putting lives at risk after two of his friends had to be rescued in the space of two weeks.

Both men were inexperienced climbers but their friend, in his early 20s, decided to take them to tackle an advanced climb in rough weather and darkness at Guillemot Ledge, near Swanage in Dorset.

The first man had to be airlifted to hospital with a suspected broken arm and head injury after he swung against rocks at the isolated beauty spot on the evening of November 20.

The second man, also in his early 20s and from Winchester, was ''lucky'' to escape injury after being rescued at the bottom of the 60m sheer cliff last night.

A Portland Coastguard spokesman said the experienced climber, from Winchester, managed to climb back up the cliff in gale force eight winds and rain and call for help at 10pm last night.

''It's disgraceful,'' the spokesman said. ''It's putting lives at risk.

''They were given a fairly hard talking to by the senior coastguard officer.''

Last night, around 10 coastguard officers and two RNLI lifeboats turned out to save the man.

The spokesman added: ''It was so rough the inshore lifeboat had to turn back, only the all-weather boat managed to get there to put light on the situation.

''The coastguard team had to send a team down to get one of the guys back up. I hate to think how much it costs.

''What upsets the coastguards is it's the second time he has done it.''

He said: ''The inexperienced climber got his line snagged at the bottom and couldn't free it.

''The other guy managed to get back up and raise the alarm.

''One of the problems is there's very little mobile signal there so you have to get on the top and near the edge to get a signal.

''In these conditions in the middle of the night it really borders on stupidity.

''They must have been on the cliff face for some time.''

The spokesman added: ''I think they are lucky to be alive.

''If they both had got stuck they would have been there all night because no-one would see them and there was no mobile signal down there.

''They are extremely lucky to have escaped without injury.''

But, he said: ''It's more the danger to other people that is caused by it. The coastguards are all volunteers and have full-time jobs.''