Winter Keeping Britain Safe 24/7

If you can hear me but can't speak, could you tap on the phone?

64 million people, 365 days...

and 31 million calls to 999.

SIREN WAILS

That's the scale of the task faced by Britain's emergency teams.

And for one exceptional year,

we'll be following their front-line workers.

Not just our police, our firefighters and our paramedics,

we've been with our other critical emergency teams as well,

teams we rely on sometimes without ever noticing.

The specialist teams that keep our railways moving

despite the dreaded "leaves on the line."

Notting Hill binmen with just seven hours to clean up

after our liveliest carnival.

National Grid controllers responsible for powering 20 million homes

24 hours a day.

DOGS BARK

The Greater Manchester Police Dog Unit

controlling 75,000 fans at the height of the football season.

CROWD CHANTS

Lifeboat crews at Britain's busiest station

with just 90 seconds to respond.

We'll show you how these specialist teams work under pressure

to protect us from danger on their most demanding days.

This is the story of one year with our emergency teams.

A year with the heroes keeping Britain safe.

'All right. OK, we've just had a call from Sunderland.'

OVERLAPPING VOICES

'Fire brigade.'

OVERLAPPING VOICES

It's winter...the most extreme season of the year.

And winter can throw up some severe conditions

and some of the biggest challenges for our emergency services.

So tonight, Julia meets the paramedics

of the Scottish Ambulance Service...

..dealing with the biggest New Year street party in Britain

CHEERING

What's happening? What's happening?

Matt rides along with the crew of the busiest lifeboat in the country.

And experiences what the water can do to you in winter.

Oh, that's very cold!

And we're with the teams who keep the roads moving

through the cold and darkness of the most extreme season of the year.

Britain...64 million of us.

But to get a sense of how our population is spread...look at this.

These population clusters show

just how densely we're packed in the South East.

And so too are the emergency services.

Here in central London, there are 14 A&E departments in a 10-mile radius.

But up in the Scottish Highlands, there are areas of total wilderness.

There are only 18 A&E departments to cover 15,000 square miles.

So what do you do if you have an emergency here?

Picking up the pieces in Britain's most extreme wilderness

are the military Search and Rescue squadrons.

And winter is their most testing time of year.

I've come to RAF Lossiemouth in the north of Scotland.

Temperatures here in the mountains fall as low as -27 degrees.

So having the right gear is essential.

-Hello, hello. Harry?

-Hi.

-Julia, nice to see you.

-You have some underwear. A pair of socks.

Lovely. Look at those, my colour. I like those.

-Base layer.

-It's a onesie!

-It's a onesie.

-Brilliant!

I liked the onesie, but you've excelled yourself, I love this.

Now put your boots on. Cold-weather jacket, cold-weather trousers.

With survival, it's making sure that you're comfortable

and, ultimately, that you can get out of the aircraft in a hurry.

-So, again, it's a matter of bending, stretching.

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-All the same sort of things.

-No restrictions. All good.

-Yeah.

-I have broken a nail, though.

-Oh.

Across the country, the RAF and Royal Navy have eight bases

using iconic Sea King helicopters for search-and-rescue operations.

When this nine tonne yellow beauty takes to the skies,

a team of pilots, navigators, radar operatives

head out to save your life.

Ultimately, it all depends on the team

successfully manoeuvring one person, the winchman,

who's hanging out of the helicopter on this hook.

It's got to be one of the most daunting jobs

in the emergency services...

..to be dangled out of a moving helicopter

on a metal wire as thin as a pencil.

This is my lifeline, my umbilical cord.

My life depends on this.

The cable's checked all the time.

We check it before and after each flight.

The whole cable's run out. There's 245 foot of stainless-steel cable.

It's cared for...and looked after.

The RAF have 30 winchmen across Britain

and they train every day to be ready for even the most extreme rescues.

Today, they're taking me along for a small taste of what they do.

The weather conditions are pretty harsh today.

Look at that...driving sleet and snow.

Now imagine it's night time, pitch black, you can't see anything,

you open the door, there's 3,000 feet beneath you,

and you're hovering next to the highest mountain in Britain.

Rescue 137, one of Lossiemouth's two Sea Kings, has been scrambled.

HELICOPTER COMMS CRACKLE

'And the whole of Castle Ridge is clear.'

It's 5.30 in the evening.

Darkness is starting to envelop the Scottish mountains.

Two climbers are reported to be clinging onto a sheer rock face,

3,000 feet up on Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain.

'Four o'clock, three-quarters of the way up the hill.'

-'Got 'em on camera.

-Roger.'

The two climbers are experienced mountaineers,

but they've gone off-route

and have become stuck on the vertical rock face.

They've used a mobile phone to call for help.

-'..the snow gully behind?

-Yeah.'

-'OK, they're just about in the middle of that.

-Copy.'

Working off night vision in the gloom,

the crew assess the scene using the helicopter's infrared camera.

'I'll just give Duncan time to have a think about this.'

One of the climbers is in a fairly secure position,

but the climber on the left appears more precarious.

-'Roger.

-Right, Nick, in you go.'

-'This might not be as simple as we think it is.

-Yeah.'

The overhang of the rock above them

makes it even more challenging for the helicopter

to manoeuvre winchman, Duncan Tripp, into position.

-'Come up a further ten, please.

-Sure.'

'Steady. Height is good. Tips are well clear.'

'Steady. Duncan is on the ledge. Steady.'

'Left and forward. Steady. We've got an overhang.'

'We've got an overhang, Duncan. Left one and back.'

If the cable snags, it could bring down the whole helicopter.

When I'm being winched out 2,500-3,000 feet up,

you're trying to focus on the job and not look down.

'Move left two. Height is good.'

'Left one. Steady. Steady.'

I think it would be arrogant of me to say that you're not scared.

It's a tricky hover for the pilot.

The extreme weather conditions mean they can't keep the helicopter

in this precarious position for long without risking everyone's life.

'Height is good.'

Duncan decides to take both men up with him on the same lift.

The maximum tolerance of the winch is 600lb.

Three men plus their equipment is pushing the winch to its very limit.

'Duncan's indicating winch in. Height is good.'

Lifting three people is not normal and it's only done in extremis.

And this was one of those kind of situations

where we couldn't afford to leave any of the guys behind.

'Steady. Clear. Left...three.'

-'You've cleared the hill.

-You're clear left.'

'I have 120 feet of cable to run.'

'The hoist is motoring.'

'100 feet of cable to run.'

'Dampen what little swing there is.'

'Height is good. 30 feet to the door.'

'Height is good. Getting a little bit of swing.'

'Ten feet to the door.'

They would have struggled to get themselves out of that situation.

They were very, very pleased to see us.

-'Stop. Stop to crew.

-Crew.

-Clear to go.'

'Good. Fantastic!'

It takes a certain type of person to do this job.

I think it makes you appreciate life a little bit more as well.

I think it makes you appreciate how vulnerable we are.

-'That was interesting, wasn't it?

-Yeah.'

'Jobs there are never straightforward.'

'What shall we do now?'

Later in the programme, we'll be back at RAF Lossiemouth,

to see how the squadron deals with avalanche season.

From the mountains of northern Scotland

to the largest city in Britain.

There are 236 RNLI lifeboat stations in Britain,

but here's a question for you - which one is the busiest?

You may be thinking it's the one that serves the Solent,

or maybe the one in Blackpool, or maybe even the one in Aberdeen.

But then you'd be wrong.

It's in fact the one that serves this 17-mile stretch of the Thames

that passes straight through the heart of London.

And this station is the busiest because the River Thames

flows through one of the biggest cities in the world.

If someone falls in during the cold winter months, it can be deadly.

Chris Walker, one of the RNLI's 4,600 crew members,

explains to me why they have to launch so fast.

At our station, instead of like a conventional lifeboat station

where people respond to a pager,

we have crew based at the station for 12-hour shifts,

which means when the bells go down,

our response time is less than 90 seconds.

-You must be an expert at pulling your trousers on?

-Yeah.

The advantage that you've got here

over pretty much any other mode of transport

is the huge speed that you've got.

-Absolutely.

-What are we talking about?

She averages about 40 knots.

That's almost 50mph.

It makes the RNLI one of the fastest things on the water here.

And when someone falls in, that's exactly what they need to be.

Seen something that's caught our attention.

We're just going to go back and take a look, OK?

Just looks like the shoulders of a body.

It's blue we're looking at...just coming through the number one arch.

-It just looks like the shoulders, doesn't it?

-Yeah. Just there.

Is it rubbish? I bet it's a rubbish bag. Plastic.

We are overdue someone.

So someone went into the river about 12 days ago

and the body hasn't been recovered.

So while we're out training, we're always on the lookout

for anything like that, because that presents itself

very much how a body would be in the water,

with just part of the shoulder at the surface.

What's it like in there? Have you been in?

Yeah. It's not pleasant.

You're looking at no more than half an hour.

-Right now?

-Yeah. It is a particularly cold day.

The first three minutes are going to be the worst time for you.

As soon as you enter the water, you get a thing called cold shock,

that...uncontrollable gasp of air,

your breathing rate increases rapidly,

your heart rate increases rapidly.

And for a large proportion of people that die in that first 0-3 minutes,

it's because of a heart attack or an incapacitating stroke.

-Just because of the shock?

-Purely because of that difference.

To see the effects of cold water

on a relatively fit and healthy specimen,

I've come here to a lab in Portsmouth

to experience what it's like to be a man overboard.

Do you know what your resting heart rate normally is when you're...?

This morning it was 69.

OK. That's OK. We've only managed to add about 14 or 15 beats...

MATT LAUGHS

..to that at the moment.

-I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit anxious.

-No. No.

This water is at 12 degrees,

the average temperature of the River Thames.

Now, that might not sound too cold, but have a look at this.

-We're going to do just a three-minute immersion.

-OK.

So that will give us the full idea

-of what the cold-shock response is about.

-OK.

And then at the end of that three-minute immersion,

we'll ask you just to put your face into the water

for about ten seconds.

In five. Four. Three. Two. One. Go.

WINCH WHIRRS

HE GROANS

That's very cold!

Well done, Matt, stick with it. Stick with it.

-HE GASPS

-Stick with it. That's excellent.

That's good. That's pretty well controlled, that's good.

That's good.

MONITOR BEEPS

-God!

-It's peaked now. It peaks in the first 30 seconds, Matt.

And it should start easing off a little bit.

-Starting to be able to catch my breath now.

-Yeah.

I don't think I can move my hands, not in any meaningful way.

-Yeah.

-But I've now just about got control of my breath.

I can start to feel my fingers and my toes.

Just...I can just about move them.

God, though, my arms are killing me!

Your problem would have been that... had you in that first few seconds,

if you hadn't been lowered into the water,

gone plummeting into it

and gone maybe a metre or so under it...

-Yeah.

-..you've then got to hold your breath

till you get back to the surface.

MATT GASPS

So that'll be three minutes in... three, two, one. That's now.

-OK, face in now?

-Yep, when you're ready.

When we enter cold water, adrenaline makes our heart rate increase,

but when our face enters the water the body has a different response,

slowing our heart rate in an attempt to conserve oxygen.

It's thought these two different reactions

can create a conflict in the body, placing a strain on the heart.

That's great. Well done. And we're going to come out.

The first...10 or 20 seconds in there...

Is horrible.

I mean, that's still water.

if you can imagine that being... being the sea,

you could easily take down a litre of water,

because there's no way you could control your breathing at all.

And there it was flat water and I was up to my neck and I was in no...

God!

Come and have a warm bath.

I mean, the irony is, it's only just the very shell of you that's cold,

-but we'll still give you a bath.

-Ohh!

MATT SIGHS

No adverse reaction at all?

It almost makes it worthwhile.

Ohh!

When you went in the water,

your heart rate went up to 119...120 beats per minute there,

but importantly, at the same time,

you reduced blood flow to the periphery,

you increased the amount of blood in the centre of the body,

and your blood pressure goes up.

So that's where somebody who has already got blood pressure,

has got cardiovascular disease, has an aneurysm, maybe,

that's really dangerous.

-Thank you very much. It's been a real experience.

-And well done.

-And I feel brilliant now.

-Yes, of course you do.

It's because cold-water shock can be so debilitating

that this water is potentially deadly.

And so later on, we'll be with the RNLI crew here on the Thames,

when tens of thousands of partygoers

gather by the river to celebrate the start of 2013.

-ALL:

-Four! Three! Two!

And I'll be in Edinburgh with the Scottish Ambulance Service...

-You've been hit by a bus.

-Oh, have I?

-..for their New Year street party.

CHEERING

TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT

But first, this is the moment when major transport hubs like this

face the biggest strain of the year.

It's Friday the 21st of December, four days before Christmas.

Above the crowd,

banks of CCTV cameras watch over the merry travellers

whilst throughout London's train and underground stations,

465 British Transport Police officers

are involved in Operation Lockstock.

It's designed to increase the police presence

around the capital's transport hubs during the festive period.

Love it. Absolutely love it at this time of year.

Everybody's happy, everyone's in good spirits, it's all good.

-So, yeah.

-Hello!

Merry Christmas! Ho-ho!

At stations up and down the country,

last minute shoppers are colliding

with office workers in the mood to party,

and people beginning to make their journey home for Christmas.

ALL: # We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. #

But with Britain in party mood and many a little worse for wear,

the police have their hands full.

-You're too drunk to travel.

-A bit drunk.

You're very drunk, not a bit, you're very drunk.

You're a lad with a sense of humour!

OFFICER LAUGHS

You're quite an excitable fella, aren't you?

-Aye!

-That's it.

And this becomes the story of the evening.

And I would say you're far too drunk to be travelling on the trains.

-I would say the same, actually.

-All right?

-OK.

THEY LAUGH

Give us your hand, mate.

Wake up, mate. Police.

Fallen asleep there?

Fella, these are on the floor.

Kirsty!

-You all right, fella?

-Where are you off to now?

I'm off to see...the Wizard of Oz!

OFFICER LAUGHS

OFFICERS LAUGH

-Happy Christmas.

-And to you. You have a good night.

-Happy days. Good luck.

-Stay safe.

People like that tend to be victims of opportunist theft.

I can't say much more than that, really,

he's...he just wants to get home now.

This sort of policing is all about a friendly and reassuring presence,

but there's another side of British law enforcement

that these merry revellers might not want to encounter.

There are only three cities in Britain,

London, Manchester and Birmingham,

where they have designated armed-response units.

SIREN WAILS

These teams of officers patrol in ARVs, or armed response vehicles,

and during winter, the longer nights and harsher weather

bring their own unique set of challenges.

Yes, yes, 2-2, kill your lights.

Did you overhear the last reference? Over.

The unit here in Birmingham was set up in 1988

after a police officer was shot.

More recently, they've had to respond to incidents like this,

an armed bank robbery in the heart of the city.

-MAN:

-Yeah, police, please. There's an armed robbery in progress!

The guy's got two guns to his head!

I'm going to have to get out of here!

This winter sees the applicants

for the next intake of the West Midlands' Gun Unit

being put through their paces.

Armed police! You in front! You in front! Get out of the car now!

-Get out of the car!

-Get out of the car now!

If they pass this ten-week course,

they'll join the small number of officers specially trained

to respond to the most serious

and dangerous incidents on our streets.

MAN HOLLERS

And they do it with potentially lethal force.

No sudden movements or you get tasered again!

Get on the ground. Keep your hands there where I can see 'em.

It's pretty dramatic.

The initial impression you get from these guys

is one of aggression, really, because of the shouting.

Get out of the vehicle! Get out of the car!

What you see is a controlled aggression,

it's about dominating and bringing the situation to a conclusion

at the earliest opportunity

-and still having that control.

-He's secured!

-He's secured!

-The course tests their weapon skills,

but, crucially, it also tests their temperament

and decision making under extreme pressure.

Less than one in ten applicants will ultimately make the grade.

We do have officers who fail courses because they get overexcited.

We lose a few people during those courses

who come to realise actually what they might have to do,

which ultimately is to use the firearm and take a life.

And that's...that is the last thing we ever want to do.

-What the hell is going on?!

-Bear with us. Stay where you are.

The officers who pass this course

-will spend much of their time trying to take guns

-off

-the street.

And here in a secret location,

they have a cache of just some of the illegal weapons

that have been seized or surrendered over a number of years.

For Detective Chief Inspector Simon Wallis,

this is an ongoing and critical job.

What we can say is that through the National Ballistic Service,

they assess our new firearms that they believe have been used

and are still in circulation.

And the latest reading for the West Midlands

would suggest there are 16 outstanding.

I suspect there's more, there's more that we don't know about

that haven't been shot.

SIREN WAILS

Gun crime in the city has fallen significantly,

but in the past year alone

this team has still been called out to almost 1,000 incidents,

from armed robberies to hostage situations.

For the officers involved, it's a tough job.

The pressures that you have is that you've got a lethal weapon

and at any time, you may need to use that lethal weapon.

POLICE RADIO CRACKLES

The first job that I pointed a gun at a driver in a car,

he froze...stares at me and does nothing.

And I'm trying to get him to open that car door.

It's that few seconds that you've got

where you've got complete control over that person.

Does that match the description?

Deciding when they're deployed

is a responsibility that falls on contact-centre supervisors...

-Police. Emergency?

-..based in the 999 call centre.

Is there any weapons or anything?

Today's supervisor is Inspector Gill Munslow.

She bears the burden of responsibility

to decide when to despatch the armed response unit to a major incident.

Why would you want this job? It seems incredibly stressful.

-This is the best job in the force.

-Why is this job the best job?

Because of the responsibility I've got. I enjoy the intenseness of it,

I enjoy the demand. I could be sitting here and all of a sudden...

Yesterday, I had two firearms incidents simultaneously,

one end of the force dealing with both firearms incidents.

Erm...I've had occasions

where I've had a kidnap come in at the same time, and then a pursuit.

One Monday night in mid-last year,

I had to deploy them eight times.

Eight separate incidents.

There were some really good results from some of those,

where they were armed robberies and we actually detained

two suspects separately and recovered firearms.

The police have just received a tip-off that links a firearm

to a car that's been spotted in the city.

Armed officers Matt Rowe and Aaron Carr are despatched.

It could be a chance to seize one of 16 guns

that they know are unaccounted for out on the street.

Whisky-Victor, we've located the vehicle.

It's unattended at the moment.

We'll be going into containment around the vehicle.

Matt and Aaron sit tight and observe the car from a distance.

Two other armed vehicles are also in position,

waiting for the owner to return.

Stand still! Stand still!

Get down on the ground now!

You! On the floor!

He's secure.

MAN GROANS

I'm going to roll you up onto your arse.

-What's all this about?

-Stay there.

-Pulling guns on people?!

Listen... Listen! You asked me what's going on,

I'm going to tell you!

We've had information to suggest there may be a firearm

or somebody with a firearm in that car.

-You get it now, yeah?

-Yeah, yeah.

There was no firearm hidden in the vehicle.

But the police believe the stop and search has given them a lead,

which may help to locate another illegal weapon.

We've got the car that we was after.

Although we didn't get the person that we was after,

it's all good intelligence linking those two guys together

at that time in that vehicle.

So, yeah, it was a good stop, done safely.

We still know there's guns out there,

but I don't think you walk around Birmingham now

and get that feeling...of being unsafe.

And we're going to keep moving forward

and keep reducing the violence on the streets.

POLICE RADIO CRACKLES

For emergency services in every city,

there's one night above all that stands out...

New Year.

Up and down Britain, millions of us take to the streets

to celebrate the end of the year.

For Britain's 20,000 paramedics, it's a huge challenge.

But the city of Edinburgh feels the pressure above all.

Not only do they have the regular challenges that New Year brings,

on top of that, they have to manage Britain's biggest street party.

There are few places in the world that do New Year like Edinburgh.

The celebration has become a three-day festival

when tens of thousands of tourists pour into Scotland's capital.

BAGPIPES PLAY

DRUMMING

Welcome to Edinburgh.

CHEERING

Tonight, the city's warming up with a torch-lit procession.

Tomorrow, 75,000 people are expected to turn out onto these streets

to celebrate the last day of the year.

We're here to follow the work of the Scottish Ambulance Service

to see how they cope.

But emergency planning for this event started months ago.

We've now got 6,400 people

all moving towards a better viewing area.

At Edinburgh City Council Chambers, police, ambulance and fire chiefs

gather with event organisers

to rehearse response scenarios for every eventuality.

What we have potentially here is a congested/crushing incident.

Our record over the years is very good,

but we will have probably in excess

of 100 casualties of different types.

A large percentage will be related to alcohol.

It's just one of the facts, people come out to celebrate

and they'll have a drink, sometimes to excess.

Someone in the crowd somewhere shouted, "The fireworks are going off in five minutes!"

A serious situation has developed very, very quickly

causing Fredrick Street to become very congested.

The head of operations for the Scottish Ambulance Service

is Paul Bassett.

It's difficult to comprehend 75,000 people -

so it's a massive sporting event - it's like a big rugby match

or a big football match.

Yeah, you get the enormity of that

and the challenge is getting to these people,

and it's like, you know, "I'm in control of this,

"but I don't feel like I've got total control."

And you just systematically work through to get that back.

OK, it's a street party. We've got a job to do.

All over the city emergency workers are bracing themselves.

Extra staff have been brought on to cope with the party.

Before they hit the streets, Paul gives a final briefing.

Stay safe, stay warm. Make sure we're professional at all times.

Make sure what we do is effective and appropriate.

But equally, enjoy yourselves.

Across town, monitoring the event on CCTV,

are the members of Silver Command.

Here, leaders from all the emergency services

are uniting in preparation for the big night.

If there's a major emergency this evening,

this team ensures there's a fast and coordinated response.

In overall charge tonight is the Gold Commander,

Assistant Chief Constable Graham Sinclair.

Edinburgh being the capital city,

we have got a big record of pulling things together

at this joint control room.

My job is to say, "Well, yeah, we have done it before,

"be confident that we've done it before, but let's not be complacent,

"because none of us have policed 2012 into 2013."

It's almost like the swan on the water, you know?

You've got all that activity going on under the surface.

That's almost a nine-month process to come to this four, five hours.

So, it's a big deal.

Later, we'll return to Edinburgh to see how our emergency teams

get on when the party really gets going.

And we'll also be in London with the RNLI

patrolling the Thames on this night of celebration.

For our emergency services to respond effectively,

they have to be able to anticipate the worst.

Not easy, because British winters can very quickly take a turn.

Overnight tonight and into tomorrow will turn to snow for some areas

as it hits that cold air.

In January this year, temperatures plummeted,

falling in places to minus 13 degrees.

All of our emergency teams depend upon the critical judgment

of weather forecasts to help them through this extreme season.

These predictions rely upon satellites

circling above us gathering vital data,

and here at the Met Office I'm meeting with Chris Tubbs,

one of 12 Chief and Deputy Chief Forecasters,

whose job it is to provide forecast guidance

and issue severe weather warnings.

I think what makes us special

is that we are on the edge of quite a large continent,

so sometimes we get the cold weather,

when we get the easterly winds that cold weather comes over us,

and we see some ice and snow.

But it's not just the cold weather coming from the east

that we have to deal with.

Out here, to the west, we've got a really strong low-pressure system,

relatively warm Atlantic.

We have the east and we have the west,

-we have two completely conflicting types of weather...

-That's right.

..trying to make up their mind who's going to win, day by day.

So, constantly we're on that battleground

between the mild, moist air out to the west

and the cold, freezing air out to the east.

It means that forecasting British weather

is one of the most challenging jobs in the field.

In the basement of the Met Office,

this supercomputer processes millions of weather observations every day.

And that data allows forecasters to issue

in excess of 3,000 bespoke daily forecasts,

including early warnings for our emergency service teams.

These forecasts help planners prepare for the extremes in weather,

at our ports and harbours...

OK, we have stand-by.

..our airports...

The information we get is pretty reliable.

..our military bases...

You've got moderate turbulence throughout the day,

and then some isolated severe turbulence

towards the end of the day.

..and the teams that keep our roads moving.

With extreme weather predicted, councils all over Britain

are rushing to place orders from an underground plant in Cheshire.

220 million years ago, salt marshes in the Cheshire countryside

deposited this extraordinary underground resource.

It's the largest and oldest working salt mine in Britain.

It has 240 miles of open tunnel.

And it's here that the lion's share of the salt used on our roads

is extracted.

There have been calculations done on the cost of accidents

in the winter, and balancing that against the cost of salt.

It would be disastrous.

The country would grind to a standstill

without salt to keep the roads safe.

But that's just the beginning of this salty tale.

Britain has nearly 250,000 miles of road,

and so armies of gritter trucks are now required.

Good morning. Well, fresh snow overnight causing problems...

Major problems on the roads across the country...

Major problems on the A82 between Spean Bridge and Glencoe.

Today, there's snow and ice on the ground,

so Aberdeenshire Council's 98-strong fleet of gritters is out.

Quite a bit of ice on this one.

We'll do a little bit of spot-gritting.

Each year, the authority uses over 40,000 tonnes of salt

on over 3,000 miles of road.

Driver Scott Fraser is one of the council's team.

They have to deal with the worst-affected roads in Britain...

..including the notorious A939,

which rises to 2,000 feet through the Cairngorm mountain range.

It's a fantastic place to be in a snowplough.

It's exhilarating if you're the first one up.

There hasn't been any other traffic on the road.

There's absolutely nothing like virgin snow.

Oh, it's just such a buzz.

Once the salt has been mined,

the chunks are then crushed down so they're small enough

to be spread on the road and not crack your car's windscreen.

Then tonnes of it are shipped all over the country,

and stockpiled for the winter.

The salt lowers the freezing point of water,

delaying the formation of ice on the road.

But any colder than minus 9 degrees and salt has little or no effect.

People just expect roads to be open.

4x4 drivers, they seem to think that they can go, basically, anywhere,

because they've got 4x4.

Now, this thing that we're in just now is 6x6,

and sometimes IT doesn't go anywhere.

You come down, you come through the gates,

and you're able to tell people that the road's open.

Happy smiley faces. That's what we are looking for.

It's a great feeling to make sure

that we're keeping the country moving.

70 miles northwest of Aberdeen is RAF Lossiemouth,

where the search and rescue team

are in the middle of their most testing time of the year.

This winter has been one of the worst for deaths from avalanches.

21 minutes to seven. More deaths in the mountains of Scotland.

We've had three people killed in an avalanche in the Cairngorms.

Up here, as the snow melts and refreezes,

slippery layers are created within the snow pack,

potentially dislodging thousands of tonnes of snow as an avalanche.

Welcome to the darkest and most deadly days of the Scottish winter.

Lossiemouth, here, is known for its Scottish winters.

It is part of Lossiemouth's entire psyche.

The Scottish weather tries its best to kill us on a regular basis.

The winters here are hard, and, for us, quite dangerous.

It's easy to get caught out in a Scottish winter.

-PHONE RINGS

-Hello, coastguard.

It's January, and Rescue 137,

one of Lossiemouth's two Sea King helicopters,

is being scrambled to an avalanche.

-Yeah, 7.30 on one.

-Roger.

Gentleman witnessed an avalanche,

and the avalanche was about 200m away from him

-and he saw four people get carried down with it.

-Yes.

Just to let you know 137 is on the way.

It can be a very hostile environment. Very, very dangerous.

The helicopter has to be very careful.

If they fly in straight to an area that has been avalanched

they could trigger - if there's loose snow,

they could trigger another one.

On the scene already are a mountain rescue team

who were training nearby.

They've requested a helicopter to remove the casualties.

I think they are at the back left, there's a group of people there.

Yeah, roger that, 137, you have probably got visual

on the casualty site over to the west side of the corrie, over.

On the winch today is the rookie of the flight, 25-year-old Dave Currie.

Not knowing the state of the casualties,

we always prep for the worst case.

Steady, steady. Just come back to the hover there.

And knowing this was an avalanche,

we were thinking this could be quite serious.

They could be very seriously injured.

Descending very slowly as we go.

Take my radios off, Paul, please.

The winch itself was probably in the region of 150, 175 feet.

And the pilots were working quite hard

to try and maintain a good hover, given the turbulence

that was created by the wind over the hill.

Your height is good. Your speed is good.

In the hills, the wind is particularly unpredictable.

Trying to get an individual onto something can be quite tricky.

That starts to get a little bit tense.

The ground is dropping away on the right-hand side,

should be right and back with about 15 to 20 units to go.

But if I start to sound tense in my voice,

then that makes the pilots feel tense,

and it just probably exacerbates the problem,

and we end up playing conkers with the winchman

which is not a good thing to be doing.

Reduce your speed, come back to the hover.

Dave's safely on the ground,

if you're happy there, Dave, I'll just let you walk down.

The three guys were all walking together

when the avalanche had happened.

They were then taken about 100m down the slope

to where they eventually came to rest,

and it was at that point I did a quick assessment

to see how they all were.

The casualties will be further assessed at Glenmore

and, if necessary, transferred to Raigmore, over.

Good call.

Winch out.

Winch out, winch out.

Although one was stretchered off the hill as a precaution,

all three climbers escaped serious injury.

Winch out.

Winch out.

Rescue 137, this is Kinloss rescue, roger, out.

These climbers were extremely lucky.

Over the past five years,

17 people have been killed by avalanches in the Scottish hills.

It is not totally out of the question that you could get injured,

by any means. Um...but you go for it, don't you?

We don't think of Britain as an extreme environment,

but these airmen and women work in temperatures

as low as minus 27 degrees

in some of the most remote areas of the Scottish Highlands.

I think this is the best job in the world, ever.

I command a group of people who all love their job,

who get given a helicopter

and a chance to go out and rescue people's lives,

and they can push themselves and the aircraft

to the absolute limit to do so.

From the outer limits to the heart of the action.

At the Tower lifeboat station, one of four stations on the River Thames,

volunteer Jean-Philippe Trenque is on duty

for London's New Year's Eve party.

I normally work in Canary Wharf, in the financial services industry.

I just applied, went to the initial meetings, joined the crew,

and that was it. That was about ten years ago, now, I suppose.

My partner is working New Year, for the police.

I didn't have anything else to do at home!

So I thought, why not be here, and be part of the group?

Tonight I imagine we're going to have a lot of drunk people,

unfortunately.

People jumping off bridges, either as a dare,

or sometimes as a cry for help,

or sometimes just to end it all.

Sadly, Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are quite notorious for that.

JP is part of the crew on one of two RNLI boats

patrolling this 17-mile stretch of river in central London.

And tonight they won't return to base until the party is over.

MUSIC: "Don't You (Forget About Me)" by Simple Minds

Back in Edinburgh, Hogmanay is in full swing as the bells approach.

As celebrations gather pace all over town,

lone paramedics wait in fast-response cars for a call.

# Won't you come see about me? #

It could be for anything from a drunken fall

to a life-threatening emergency.

It's a busy start to the evening for paramedic Mark Whittock.

So, literally just taken the keys over from the day shift

and was in the process of putting my gear in the car,

and we've got an emergency call to Princess Street for a male

who's been hit by a bus, apparently.

Mark's in one of four fast-response cars.

They carry a single paramedic, who's usually first to the scene.

An ambulance will follow to transport the patient.

-You've been hit by a bus!

-SLURS:

-Oh, have I?

-Yes.

Now, to be fair, you've had a good bevvy, is that right?

-Yeah, I've had a very good bevvy.

-Well, lucky you.

What we're going to do is,

because we can't really determine how injured you are

with regards to your neck and your back,

we're going to roll you onto your back and put a collar on you,

to secure your neck and your back, just until we get to the hospital.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, that's fine.

One, two, roll.

The ambulance arrives and he is taken to hospital

with a suspected fractured collarbone.

He got quite a few injuries

but nothing too serious life-threatening wise.

Probably the alcohol that he has got in his system hasn't helped.

We've protected his neck and back as best we can

until he gets a full assessment in hospital.

On New Year's Eve, paramedics respond

to an increase of approximately 1,000 calls

relating to drunken behaviour.

Across town, paramedic Craig Henderson is next to receive a call.

This is a male, been struck by a taxi.

Basically, we were just leaving the club,

and the taxi went about ten yards down the road

and slammed the brakes on,

and there was a guy that was obviously a wee bit too merry

for the New Year, and he walked out in the road.

The taxi driver put the brakes on,

but the guys in the taxi weren't wearing a seat belt,

so they've fallen forward.

Me and Jamie fell from the back to the front.

He's in there now,

his nose is pouring with blood, his shoulder's sore.

The guy that ran in front of the taxi is nowhere to be seen,

he's oblivious to the fact that... what's happened tonight.

It's just one of these things, New Year,

everybody having a good time, just the wrong person at the wrong time.

I caught up with Mark in Edinburgh

to talk to him about what it's like working on a night like Hogmanay.

It's getting bigger and bigger each year,

and for the ambulance service, massive challenge.

Why do you agree to work on New Year's Eve?

I would not say I AGREE to work it - it's part of my shift rota.

-OK, all right!

-I have no choice!

But the highs must be tremendously rewarding when you save a life.

That must be a great feeling.

You feel like quite a traumatic or a major job has gone very well,

and the team work has worked very well.

Then you feel quite good inside, going, "That ran really smoothly,"

and you can go home and go, "I did a good job today."

The Hogmanay celebrations are now in full swing.

Welcome to Scotland's Hogmanay live. Edinburgh - well, what can I say?

She's looking beautiful tonight. The crowds here, just look at this!

As Mark's night continues, so does the partying.

This is beginning to take its toll.

We have a 25-year-old female

lying unresponsive in the street.

-Hello.

-All right, gentlemen. You take over.

My name is Mark, I'm with the ambulance service.

Do you know you're lying in the street?

Do you think you are going to be able to stand up?

SHE MUMBLES

If I get an ambulance here, at some point -

they're busy, it might take a while -

it will just take her to the Royal.

Mark requests an ambulance, but it could be a long wait,

because the ambulance control centre are managing over 1,000 calls,

that's ten times their normal number of calls.

Ambulance emergency.

OK, tell me exactly what's happened.

Is this a suicide attempt?

He said he is changing colour.

Why is she screaming?

They're the voices of the ambulance service,

so when you ring 999, these are the people that you talk to.

These are the people who try and calm you down.

I really can't hear you - too much noise in the background -

tell everyone to be quiet so we can find out...

I think they're the unsung heroes of the ambulance service,

because they're some of our lowest paid staff.

I need you to lay him flat on his back on the ground.

Working in an environment where they are under constant pressure,

and under constant focus.

Is Brian breathing?

Right, OK. Right, OK, that's good.

The real challenge is something the medics call triage.

That's the process of prioritising which patients need treatment first,

depending upon the severity of their condition.

Has she ever had a heart attack or angina?

At Hogmanay, because we're so busy,

and there's a high number of calls coming in,

what we have to do is filter out, dig into the weeds,

and see which ones are the most seriously ill.

Is there any serious bleeding?

We have an automatic system,

an algorithm that the call-takers who are non-medical,

take the calls through the algorithm,

and it tells you what the severity level is of the call.

OK, tell me exactly what happened.

As a call comes in, the handlers ask a series of questions.

Is he awake?

They're using a computer programme with a script

which they go through with the callers.

Is he conscious? I mean, is he speaking?

A flow chart of questions helps them work out

just how serious the state of the patient is,

allowing them to give life-saving instructions if necessary.

Move dangerous objects away from her.

Now, when she stops fitting, make sure she's breathing.

This is the quickest way to prioritise ambulances

for the most serious calls...

Is he blue round the lips, as well?

..and to weed out the time-wasters.

Is this gentleman awake?

When someone says someone's unconscious on a call,

when you talk to them and say, "Well, are they talking?"

And sometimes they'll say, "Yes."

"So they're not unconscious, then."

He's sitting up?

If anything changes, just call straight back on treble nine

for further instruction.

Edinburgh's looking good.

But 400 miles south, the clock is also ticking.

With just minutes to go until midnight,

there are tens of thousands of revellers

crowded along the banks of the River Thames.

On the water the RNLI crew are also in good spirits.

Could you think of anything better to do on New Year's Eve

than be out on a boat on the River Thames?

Doing what you love and helping people.

And if they do have a little too much celebration

then you are there to pick up the pieces for them afterwards

at the end of the night. What more could you ask for?

HORN HONKS

There are a lot of people out in the party boats tonight,

so we could have somebody fall in from there.

But a lot of it is just high jinks.

BIG BEN CHIMES

-CROWD:

-Six, five, four, three, two, one...

CHEERING

-Happy New Year.

-Happy New Year.

12.00 and ten seconds.

Happy New Year.

Cheers!

Happy New Year, it's 2013.

Oh, all the fireworks behind us - there we go.

You know, I look at this as quite a sad existence. You know?

Standing on my own watching the fireworks.

There's no time to celebrate,

because, for the emergency services,

things really kick off after midnight.

Could you go and investigate? Just have a look.

They may be about to fall in the water.

For these teams, the next four hours are notorious.

On the River Thames there are dozens of party boats.

The combination of booze and cold water can be lethal,

and the Tower lifeboat team are the first to respond

to an emergency call.

Er, we've got a lady in there who is very, very intoxicated.

She passed out in the toilet after being sick,

and, er, we are trying to get her out of there.

Thank you!

I'm just going to go back.

And we've got the ambulance... has just arrived,

so hopefully they will be able to help as well!

Once they've handed over to the ambulance staff,

the RNLI crew is free for the next job.

Woo!

He's had a fair amount to drink and he's refusing treatment.

You do see the pattern on this type of event.

Sadly, alcohol is always part of the equation, unfortunately.

In Edinburgh, 75,000 people are heading home.

Some are a bit worse for wear.

Whilst most calls are connected to the street party,

paramedic Mark is on his way to another incident

unrelated to the celebrations.

Request come in from the police.

One of the police officers, apparently, has been assaulted,

and another member of the public,

apparently an assailant involved in the fighting,

is now unconscious.

Hello! How are you doing?

It's the ambulance service.

Has he been talking to you at all, or just going radge with you?

He's been shouting and that, but...

Just lie him flat on his back just now.

He cannae really do much harm when he's lying flat, eh?

The drunk man had been trying to get into the wrong flat in this block.

He became violent,

and when the police arrived he got into a fight with them.

But Mark quickly has doubts as to whether he's really unconscious.

Hiya. I've got the feeling that you are not completely unconscious

if you can move your eyes like that, sir,

so do you want to start talking to me?

See, if you're unconscious,

you cannae clench your mouth shut like that.

All right? So you're no' playing the game the right way.

Come on, calm down, pal - calm down.

-Calm down!

-For your safety, pal.

He's just trying to bash his head on the ground.

You're being assisted to lie flat at the moment,

for your own safety. Are you sore anywhere?

-My hand and my heid.

-Your hand and your heid.

Well, you've been banging your own head on the floor,

so I assume that's pretty sore.

All right, chaps. Thank you.

Mark decides he is too aggressive to be transported in an ambulance.

It takes a total of nine officers to get him into a police van

to take him for medical help.

He was really difficult to assess,

although the police weren't being bad cops as such,

yeah, we the ambulance service perhaps play a role of good cop,

but people do sometimes kick off at us as well,

so you never know what's going to happen.

It's four o'clock,

so it's not been too bad so far,

the jobs we have done have been mostly alcohol-related.

We've got a couple of hours left.

Between seven at night and seven in the morning,

the Scottish Ambulance Service field almost 3,000 emergency calls.

Don't hold him down or force anything into his mouth.

Right, if he's becoming dangerous, you need to step away.

I appreciate you need to protect everybody else...

Tomorrow - the hangovers will arrive.

And another army of paramedics and call handlers

will be back on shift ready to cope with a new year.

And in only a couple of months, the planning will start again

for next year's biggest party.

Coming soon on Keeping Britain Safe 24/7, it's spring.

I'll be with the volunteer bikers

helping premature babies across Scotland.

I'll be with the newest recruits of the Manchester police dog unit,

learning how to control the football crowds.

And we're in Nottingham at one of the biggest trauma centres in the country

to see how they deal with a rise in the number of sporting injuries

each spring.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd