Eastbourne Pier: Wooden beam hangs over kids playing below

The images were taken at Eastbourne Pier at around 2.30pm on Saturday, August 16, during the third day of the Airbourne airshow.

Taken by an Argus reporter, the images show a substantial piece of wood hanging from the side of the pier.

Meanwhile, a group of people - including several children - were playing on the beach below, unaware of the possible danger from above.

The wooden beam as it appeared on Saturday afternoon (Image: The Argus) Sheikh Abid Gulzar, owner of Eastbourne Pier, told The Argus on Monday (August 18) that the broken section of timber was "damaged by young kids or students on Friday".

He added that it was being repaired "at the time of writing", on August 18.

Watch a video of the hanging piece of wood below.

Despite the damage allegedly being caused on Friday, when our reporter saw the damaged timber on Saturday afternoon, there was no cordon around it to protect visitors.

The damaged area was not cordoned off (Image: The Argus) This latest development comes not long after the entire pier was temporarily closed by management due to a piece of the walkway collapsing into the sea.

HM Coastguard were called to Eastbourne Pier on July 29 after a concrete piece of walkway fell away, leading to the pier closing early that day.

The Eastbourne coastguard team said at the time: "The team tasked to Eastbourne Pier yesterday to assess some damage reported by a member of the public.

"Once on scene, teams were deployed to locate and assess the damage safely.

"The area was cordoned off by our teams, then shortly after the pier itself was closed by management."

Images taken by the coastguard after they were called to the pier in July (Image: Eastbourne Coastguard) Regarding the July incident, Sheikh Gulzar told The Argus: "Someone reported to HM Coastguard that they had seen some concrete falling off the pier into the sea.

"The coastguard attended and closed a section of the area to be further investigated.

"This was at 7.30pm, and the pier closes at 8pm, so the management decided to close the pier 30 minutes early.

"All the repairs were carried out overnight for the pier to be open as normal next day."

The piece of wood was dangling precariously (Image: The Argus) As well as the dangling piece of wood, our reporter observed a number of other crumbling or cracked beams.

There was also a pile of commercial rubbish discarded near to the broken piece of wood, containing a fridge, a number of pallets, and various other items.

This collection of rubbish was also not cordoned off to members of the public.

There was a noticeable pile of rubbish on the pier (Image: The Argus) Read more:

Regarding this, Sheikh Gulzar told The Argus that "there is a removal company removing them, but their access to the seafront was restricted over last few days".

He added: "We have a full-time maintenance team which is constantly doing repairs on the pier, but as you can appreciate, the structural items take precedence over the decorative works."

Sheikh Gulzar bought Eastbourne Pier in 2015, and also bought Hastings Pier in 2018. He is also the owner of the Boship Lions Farm Hotel in Hailsham.