A GROUP of 29 coach passengers and their driver had a miraculous escape after their 12.5-tonne vehicle was left hanging precariously over a 15ft drop.

The Seaview Services coach missed a turn at Ventnor, Isle of Wight, and crashed through a garden fence and gate - with almost one third of its length projecting out over the drop.

The passengers and driver managed to escape through an emergency door at the rear of the coach as the vehicle teetered on the brink.

Emergency services called to the scene in Ocean View Road stabilised the coach before moving it with a large crane.

Home owner Jill Wheeler, 61, burst into tears on returning from shopping and seeing the coach perched over her garden.

She said a concrete hard-standing where she used to keep a moped had managed to stop the coach from toppling down on to her home.

As well as demolishing her gate and fence, the coach wrecked a British Telecom junction box.

Mrs Wheeler, who has lived in the house for 30 years, said only once in the past had a car hit her fence, and that was many years ago.

The incident yesterday happened at about 11am.

The passengers, all from the West Midlands, were taken to a nearby police station to be comforted after their ordeal and later returned to their hotel at Sandown.