The Birdmen of Bognor - who try to fly off the pier - grounded after 30 years by the health and safety brigade

But the Birdmen of Bognor have now come up against a much stronger force - the health and safety brigade.

The plug has been pulled on the International Bognor Birdman Challenge because of council fears that competitors could be injured after pier renovation work left 2ft less water to cover their fall than in previous years.

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More than 15,000 spectators normally flock to the East Sussex town to watch madcap aviators in bizarre costumes attempt to fly.

But 50ft was shorn from the pier last month, meaning competitors have 12ft of water below them instead of 14ft - leaving the council fearing possible compensation claims.

Competition chairman Barry Jones, who had already accepted entrants from Germany and America, said: "It is the most terrible thing. It's not quite the end of the world but we are pretty depressed. We are apprehensive as to whether it will ever happen in Bognor again."

Ron "Bald Eagle" Freeman, 52, from Newcastle, won the contest for a record eighth time last year with a jump of 72.7 metres and was intent of defending his title.

He said: "I am gutted for everyone. It is a terrible day for the Birdman and I hope an alternative venue can be found."

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Bognor Council said it hoped to restore the pier to its previous length to allow the festival to go ahead in future.

Formally known as the Birdman Rally, the event moved to Bognor in 1978 from nearby Selsey, where it began seven years earlier.