A quick-thinking mum has relived the terrifying moment she pulled her son from their moving car - just two feet before it plunged over the edge of a 100ft cliff.

Melanie Davis, 31, described her horror when her five-year-old son Kieran accidentally released the handbrake and the vehicle began rolling towards the edge.

She leapt out of the passenger's seat, reached in and grabbed terrified Kieran from the front seat.

A split second later the £18,000 Ford Ranger pickup - which Melanie's husband Mark had borrowed from a pal - plunged 100 feet to the bottom of Polpeor Cove in Cornwall.

Veterinary assistant Melanie said: ''It was mother's instinct - your first thought is to get your child out of danger.

''When I felt the car starting to roll forward and I just panicked. I leapt out of the car and just grabbed him by his shoulders and dragged him out as the car was rolling.

''The next thing I heard was this huge thud as the car crashed onto the ground.'' The drama began shortly after Melanie, husband Mark, 41, a garage owner, Kieran and their three-year-old son Jack pulled up at the beauty spot's car park on Thursday afternoon.

They parked just 6feet from the cliff edge and Mark took Jack to a nearby shop to get ice creams.

Melanie stayed in the car with Kieran, who was lifted through from the back seat into the driver's seat so he could admire the view.

But it is thought his feet released the handbrake button as he scrambled through the gap between the front seats - causing the car to roll forward.

Melanie said: ''I stayed behind and was sitting in the passenger seat and Mark lifted Kieran into the front seat to sit next to me.

''I could see the sea down below because the car park is so near the edge.

''Maybe Kieran's foot hit the handbrake when he scrambled into the front, I don't know, but I just felt horror when the car started moving.

''I could have pulled the handbrake up, but I didn't know if it would hold and there was no time to think - I just had to get my son out.'' She managed to pull Kieran out as the car was just 2 feet from the edge and gathering pace.

Mark was oblivious to the drama until he heard the sound of the vehicle hit the rocks as he bought ice creams.

He said: ''While we were paying for the ice creams, I heard people shouting for the coast guard.

''The next thing I heard this almighty bang, which was the car hitting the ground.

''Mel and Kieran were standing there and people were crowding around them.

Seeing them unhurt was just such a relief.'' The couple had borrowed the car for their holiday from one of Mark's work colleagues while theirs was being repaired.

They were all unhurt in the drama and later returned back to the Sea Acres Holiday Park in nearby Ruan Minor, where they had been staying since Monday.

Yesterday they drove home to Charfield near Wotton-under-Edge, Glos - in a hire car.

Melanie said: ''I could hardly sleep last night just because of the shock but you can go mad thinking of the 'what ifs'.

''We are still shaken, and Kieran was a bit teary afterwards, but we are all fine and I can't even think about what could have been.