Episode 4 Countryside 999

Rural Britain has some of the most challenging environments

in the world.

In Scotland, the mountains, lochs and coastline encourage

tourists and locals to get out into the wilds.

But with that, comes danger.

-RADIO:

-'A potential fatality.'

That's it confirmed that there is a potential fatality.

The emergency services north of the border have to deal with

extreme challenges every day...

We need to see the extent of this bleeding, OK?

..from severe weather and treacherous terrain...

I'm going to slip.

..to covering huge distances on rural roads

with time against them.

We don't know anything about the severity of it,

but we will soon find out when we arrive on scene.

They work round-the-clock,

battling against some of the most difficult situations.

We'll be right at the heart of the action.

Side-by-side with air rescue saving lives,

on the road with paramedics caring for the hurt and injured.

And following the police fighting crime,

as the emergency services work together, to pick up,

patch up and protect the public in rural communities.

This is Countryside 999.

Coming up...

The Royal Navy search and rescue team search for three stranded

climbers in the dead of night.

The traffic cops hunt down suspicious vehicles...

The van's not showing as being registered to you.

..and blazing chimneys cause havoc for the fire service.

It's pandemonium here just now, but it's quite exciting!

Scotland has some of the most photographed mountains in the world.

Buachaille Etive Mor is a popular peak in Glencoe,

which attracts one million visitors every year.

In winter, the views are spectacular

and the mountain climbing is exciting.

But shorter days means darkness falls early.

And with darkness comes extra danger,

making rescues more treacherous for the emergency services.

It's 5.30, and night is already falling.

A Royal Navy search

and rescue team have been scrambled from HMS Gannett, Prestwick.

Three experienced climbers are stuck,

2,500 feet up Buachaille Etive Mor.

No place for anyone in freezing temperatures,

especially in pitch darkness.

Angela Lewis's skills as observer will be crucial in these conditions.

As an experienced winchman, Taff Ashman knows this mountain well.

In these circumstances, it will be a tough challenge.

-RADIO:

-'Good evening, report of a crew on airwave...'

Stuck on a steep rock face in the dark,

the three climbers can't move even a few metres.

Angela has been given a direct line to one of their mobiles to

help locate them.

Hello, this is rescue helicopter 177 en route to Buachaille Etive Mor.

-MAN:

-'Hello. Can you repeat?'

Can you tell me your position, where you are in reference to

the snow, and what colours you are wearing, please?

Right, that's all copied. We are going to be on scene with you

in five minutes.

The group had separated, and that complicates the rescue.

The worrying aspect for us

is obviously that there is three of them, and they were split,

so we need to look at which one we think is in the most

precarious position, and obviously get him off first,

but, also, by us hovering, going for the lower ones first, are we

going to be interfering, and how much interfering with the top one?

When we get onto scene,

we're going to initially look for your partner who is higher up

to the north because they are in the more difficult position.

When we come in close, watch for our downwash,

that's going to start messing about with the snow around you,

so just get as good a hold as you can while we get close.

Once you see us on scene, not too early,

start getting some lights,

and by that I mean any mobile phones lit up, anything you can do to

indicate to us where you are, and we will have you off in no time, OK?

The crew work 24/7, attending call-outs day and night.

For a mountain rescue, darkness racks up the risk,

but they have special equipment to help.

But it's not just the pitch black they're up against.

Severe weather known as freezing rain is due in two hours.

The team have less than two hours to find the men and get them to safety.

If the freezing rain comes any earlier,

the three climbers could be stuck overnight.

And, at 2,500 feet,

one wrong step could have unthinkable consequences.

Accidents, rescue situations

and criminal activity can happen day or night.

But the emergency services don't always wait for cases to come

to them.

In Dumfries & Galloway,

there is just one police officer for every five square miles.

In London, there are 250.

Despite being stretched over an area more than twice

the size of Gloucestershire, the police here have a proactive

approach, and they're always on the lookout for crime.

It's the festive season,

and PCs Cammy Thomson and David Holland are out on patrol.

A beautiful but cold morning, it's -4 at the moment.

Their combined 28 years service means they often operate on

gut instinct, and today they have a hunch about a white van.

First, Cammy does a check on the vehicle.

That's received, thank you.

It's quite an old, tatty sort of van, so we've done a check

on it and it's coming back registered to a gentleman in Carlisle,

so we're going to give it a quick stop check, see who's driving it,

see whether he's got insurance and we'll take it from there.

How are you doing, you all right?

Is it your van, is it?

Lovely, do you have your driving licence and your insurance with you?

Your insurance is in there, though, is it?

The driver is a painter and decorator on his way to a job,

but, after checking details on the police database,

something is not adding up.

The van is registered under a completely different name to

the driver, making Cammy suspicious.

Now, the van is not showing us being registered to you.

No, it's registered to something else other than that.

Are you a painter and decorator?

So, how does the valeting service insure your van?

The driver's van is insured

by a valeting company he works for part-time.

But he's also using it for his personal painting

and decorating business.

It's your van, and you're using it in the course of your business?

It doesn't ring right to me that somebody has got their trade

policy, and would then cover you on it for your business.

It's unlikely the other company's insurance will cover

his decorating business, as insurance is only valid for a specified use.

A quick call to the motor insurance bureau confirms Cammy's suspicions.

They are saying that under the terms of your use today,

that you wouldn't be covered by his policy, all right?

The painter and decorator can't gloss over this one.

He could be looking at a fine, and points...

Probably, yes.

..and the van could be impounded.

After further questioning, Cammy decides to charge the driver.

You drove the white transit van with no

insurance against third-party risk, do you understand that charge?

Is there anything you wish to say officially about it?

Without valid insurance, the officers have to seize the van.

But Cammy he does agree to drop the painter and his materials

off at his painting job, before heading back to the station.

It's a bit of an interesting one, but the insurance company

are saying his use of it isn't covered by the policy,

and we will take the van back down to the police station where

it will get seized, and he will have to get the appropriate

insurance on the van before he can get it back.

The driver is dropped off, and back at Lockerbie police station,

the van is recovered and taken to a local garage.

The owner will have to pay around £150 to get it back.

He could also be facing a fine and up to six points on his licence.

Later, Cammy and David are rolling with the hunches

when they stop another suspicious-looking van.

What it would appear at the minute,

is that some of the goods are counterfeit goods, OK?

Back in the Highlands, the Navy

search and rescue team are racing to Buachaille Etive Mor in Glencoe.

Three experienced climbers are lost and separated in the pitch black.

They took a wrong turn on the 3,353 foot peak.

It's sub-zero and snowing. Terrible conditions to be stranded in.

And for carrying out a rescue.

They have less than two hours to locate and rescue

the men before freezing rain hits, making the flight impossible.

In which case the climbers will have to wait up

to six hours for a mountain rescue team.

This is Rescue 177 on HF,

copy to position 225541...

The crew have the climbers' rough positions,

but in complete darkness, they will be hard to find.

We'll be there in three minutes.

Angela has asked the climbers to start shining their phones

and torches towards the helicopter.

Night vision goggles will enable the crew to see

white light from two miles away.

The crew spot some bright lights.

You're in a good position.

The rain's lashing down and freezing rain is imminent.

With just a few feet between the nine metre long rotor blades

and the mountain face, one wrong move could end in disaster.

The pilot must hover extremely steadily.

The powerful downdraught from the helicopter could dislodge

the lower two men.

Winchman Taff descends 80 feet into the rainy darkness to recover

the climber who is on his own.

Treacherous freezing rain is headed their way.

They may have to abandon the rescue, meaning the climbers will

face a long night with a 2,500-foot drop below them.

Later, winchman Taff attempts to recover all three climbers.

The traffic cops sniff out more crime on the highways.

What have you got on board today?

But first, it's a seasonal hazard for a rural fire and rescue service.

-It's behind a solid wall. That's a chimney up there.

-It's a solid wall.

Fire services all across rural Britain have to respond

to 999 calls in target times, covering vast distances.

Grampian Fire and Rescue Service has Scotland's only white fleet.

The distinctive look gives them added visibility,

especially important in rural areas.

One of the region's five bases is in Elgin.

Watch manager Davey Farquharson has been part of the team here

for ten years. Today, he's in charge blue watch.

ALARM SOUNDS

It's approaching the festive season.

A 999 call has just come in that is common at this time of year.

A family home is at risk with a chimney fire.

Wood-burning stoves make for a cosy country cottage,

but they can burn out of control.

People are going back to lighting their own fires again,

or either having wood burning stoves.

So we are getting more and more chimney fires nowadays compared to maybe five, six years ago.

Chimney fires are a hidden menace. Over time, soot builds up.

When soot gets hot, it can ignite,

and this causes over 6,000 chimney fires a year in England alone.

If a fire gets hold, it can spread quickly, razing a home to the ground.

I'll just go and get my fire gear on.

This family have just had their chimney swept,

but when they lit the stove, some dislodged soot caught fire.

Homeowner Les called 999 straightaway.

First, crew manager Murray and the team need to

extinguish the initial fire inside the chimney breast.

The chimney breast continues upstairs, then comes out

onto the roof, so Murray must now make sure the fire doesn't spread.

While two firefighters are shown upstairs, the others try

and put out the fire from below.

Murray uses thermal imaging camera to

check for the source of the heat and make sure the smoke hasn't spread.

There is a stone wall behind there.

Next, they must eliminate the chance of a fire restarting.

The last thing the family need is another fire in the middle of the night.

But the best way to do this is to break into the chimney breast,

which will ruin the plasterwork.

That's a solid wall behind there. It's behind the solid wall. That's the chimney there.

It's burning in the old chimney breast.

Dousing the fire from the bottom is helping,

but they also need to attack the fire from the top.

I suggest a wee bit of water fae the top.

Stuart is dispatched to the roof to pour water down through

the cavity to extinguish any remaining flames.

There's water coming down now. There is no hissing or anything.

There's no heat in that.

It's doing the trick.

Nothing at the top. Not even getting steam up.

With one final check using the thermal camera,

Davey confirms the fire is out.

But as they approach the dead of winter,

this sort of fire becomes more and more common, as we'll see later.

The best part of £1,500 they spent on the fire,

and that's all just down the drain now.

Or up the fire, if you want to put it that way.

Rural police teams also see an increase in seasonal problems

in the run-up to Christmas.

But not just house break-ins or icy road accidents -

motorways can be awash with illegal activity.

Former city cop PC Cammy Thomson moved to Dumfries eight years ago.

Like his colleague David Holland, he came here for the country life.

They're patrolling the M74, which bridges Scotland and England,

looking for anything suspicious.

Earlier, a spot check on a white van revealed an uninsured driver.

Now there's another van they want to suss out.

What have you got on board today?

It's an unusual combination of goods.

This cargo needs further investigation.

Bingo.

Christmas could have come early for Cammy and David.

Authentic branded toys and clothing

aren't usually shoved into the back of a van.

'The driver got out and was very helpful, very friendly,'

and provided his details and his occupation as a market trader.

We asked him if we could have a look in the back of the van,

and he willingly obliged, opened the back doors,

and the immediate thing which struck me

was a number of inflatable toys of Disney characters.

And it appeared to me that the Disney label wasn't trademarked.

'That would suggest to me that they were counterfeit.'

Children's toys go through strict safety testing, and for good reason.

Untested counterfeit toys can be lethal to small children.

The UK market in counterfeit goods is estimated at around £1.3 billion.

In the run up to Christmas there is always a surge in fake merchandise.

A short while ago I'd been on a seminar with

the anti-counterfeiting group, and they'd been talking about the level

of counterfeit products going up and down between Scotland and England.

In the build up to Christmas everybody's looking for a bargain.

So we do expect these things to happen more frequently

at this time of the year.

The officers need to tap into expert knowledge to find out

if the items are fake.

Cammy contacts the Intellectual Property Crime Unit who specialise in protecting brands.

The gentleman has got quite a lot of well-known branded

toys in there, including Angry Birds, and I believe you can

tell me whether they are genuine items or counterfeit.

Millions of potentially dangerous products flood the country

at this time of year.

The traffic cops are on the alert to crack down on counterfeit crime.

It's certainly the right time of year for counterfeit goods, you know.

It's not something that we get on a regular basis, so...

I'm sure there's plenty going up and down the road,

but it just depends what you stop and... You know, just on the off chance.

-FROM RADIO:

-'Yeah, not a problem.'

-OK, thanks for your help, now.

What they are saying that there should either be an R or a TM,

indicating that it's been trademarked.

As you can see, in this instance there's nothing,

which would lead us to form the opinion that these

are counterfeit goods rather than the actual genuine item.

Cammy has got the information he needs to confirm their suspicions.

Time to confront the van driver.

What it would appear at the minute is that they are counterfeit goods, OK?

-They are counterfeit goods?

-It would appear that they are at the moment in time, OK?

So what we're going to have to do,

we'll need to take you back to the police station, and we'll need to...

Basically we'll seize some of the goods and they'll get tested.

Cammy is taking the driver back to the station alone,

so he must be cuffed. David drives the van full of evidence.

With such a large amount of merchandise, the van driver could

face a heavy penalty if the products are proven to be fake.

120 miles north is Glencoe.

Three climbers are stranded

and disorientated on Buachaille Etive Mor.

It's pitch black, and sub-zero conditions.

Freezing rain is on its way and will ground the helicopter if it hits.

Navy winchman Taff Ashman is attempting a highly dangerous rescue at 2,500 feet.

There are just a few feet between the mountain and the helicopter blades.

Observer Angela has the critical job of guiding both the pilot and Taff.

Taff's descending on the winch,

fighting against the downdraught from the helicopter.

There's a bit of a nerve factor involved.

We were hovering very close to the mountain,

such a steep-sided slope that you've got to just

tuck in really close.

When it is dark obviously you start thinking that, actually you've got

someone concentrating on looking down at winching and getting me in safe,

but you've got to keep that scan going to make sure the blades don't actually impact the rocks.

The climbers have been in complete darkness, isolated and freezing.

Now Taff is dangling before them, 80 feet below a helicopter

in torrential rain, battling the downwash from the rotor blades.

Taff shouts to be heard above the helicopter noise.

The climber must hold his backpack to ensure there is no

danger of slipping through this drop.

The first climber is safe, but his two friends are 25 feet further down.

'The first guy, I think, you know, he was really quite relieved.

'I know he was in shouting range of his mates,

'but he wasn't actually with his mates.'

He was roped on, but not onto a great point, I don't think,

and whether or not it would have held him if he had fallen, for too long...

These guys are experienced climbers.

But all it takes is one wrong turn

to end up stranded on a dangerous rock face like this.

That's two in. But there's still one man left.

He's alone on a perilous ledge,

so Taff must go down again on the winch.

At last, all three climbers are safely on board.

Relatively unharmed and relieved after their ordeal,

they'll now be dropped off to a place of safety.

The night could've been totally different for these three men.

They've had a lucky escape.

Yeah, perfect. We're clear below. Go down slowly.

But it's only now they realise how much trouble they could've been in.

Local police will now make sure the guys get any help they need.

-Thanks again.

-No worries.

As predicted, the freezing rain has hit.

The Navy crew are grounded for the night.

They check into a nearby hotel and will return to base tomorrow.

They even walked in and said, "Don't forget your toothbrush!"

-Yeah, but at the end of the day, you've got your wallet, got your phone...

-Did you get a toothbrush?

But there's no rest for the traffic cops, Cammy Thomson

and David Holland.

They struck lucky when they stopped a red van crammed with goods

they suspect are fake.

David's taking the van back to the station

so they can do a thorough investigation of the merchandise.

Until we find out all the facts and the details...we don't know,

and part of the process is taking that person

back to the police station.

And again, part of that due process is detaining them,

and we should really put them in handcuffs when we detain them.

Although the chap is very amiable

and he's got receipts for all the goods,

it doesn't mean that they're not counterfeit.

Before they comb through the van,

they need to take the driver into custody.

-You do that, then.

-And you'll certainly check the invoices as well?

Check the invoices in the front of the van?

We'll do all that, don't worry.

The driver will be held in a cell while they go through the evidence.

But first, he hands over his belongings,

which includes a suspiciously large wad of notes.

We prefer people when they come in just with a few bits of loose change!

THEY LAUGH

Well, that's to go down to buy stock, you know.

What we'll do now, we'll just sit you down,

we'll go and have a look, see what's in the van, make some phone calls.

Once we've established what's there, what we've got, we'll come and speak to you.

Now the officers record all the items.

And it's not just toys and games.

For something like that that's a real Ferrari merchandise,

I would suggest you're going to be paying quite a lot of money for it.

And certainly wouldn't be carrying it in the back of an unmarked van.

There was 137 coats,

many of them retailing at £100-odd each,

so that was a real good capture

and was a big relief that we weren't just looking at

a few counterfeit remote-control cars,

that we'd actually got something of note.

Ripping off high-end branded merchandise could mean

serious trouble for the driver.

But David, who's also a firearms officer,

has found some rather disturbing toys.

It's amazing what they sell as kids' toys these days.

Being a firearms officer, if somebody was to point that at me...

..and you were out on an operation you would think that was a real gun.

Certainly from a distance, and even quite close-up,

they're very, very difficult to distinguish from what you would class

as a real handgun.

And it's quite worrying that you might at some point be faced

with that decision, erm...

You might end up pulling the trigger and shooting somebody with a BB gun

when...you know,

you don't know whether it is a BB gun or not.

So it's quite worrying that these things are out there

from my point of view as a firearms officer.

It's an offence to sell, import or manufacture

a realistic imitation firearm.

This and the counterfeiting offence could mean six months in prison

and a £5,000 fine.

But the van's still half full, with all sorts of Christmas wares.

So the haul goes on.

Counterfeit sunglasses, Dolce & Gabbana, and Gucci.

And we've got a whole box full of them.

The price of real ones, sunglasses like these,

I don't think you'd be finding stored in a box like that in the back of a van.

The next step is to call in Trading Standards

to examine the products so they can start their own investigation.

The following day, Trading Standards from Dumfries and Galloway Council

attended at Lockerbie police station and examined a lot of the goods.

And they themselves were happy

that most of them appear to be counterfeit

so they've taken the majority of the products away with them

so that they can identify who the trademarks are owned by

and get statements of complaint from them.

It could take months to gather all the paperwork they need,

but for now, they've taken some potentially dangerous toys

and products off the market.

All in all, it's a great find for the officers.

Back in north-east Scotland, Grampian Fire & Rescue Service

help people avoid danger every day.

If they're not out fighting fires,

they're visiting homes to help prevent them.

Winter is the season for chimney fires.

Earlier, the Elgin fire crew successfully dealt with one.

Just three hours later, they've had a call-out to another.

This time, the flames are bursting out through the roof.

Single-storey... Thermal camera.

Like the earlier case,

these homeowners are living the country life in a cosy cottage

with a wood-burning stove.

If the chimney fire had gone unnoticed,

it could have destroyed the whole house.

The stove was put in a year ago,

and the chimney hasn't been swept since.

Watch Manager Davie Farquharson

believes 12 months' worth of debris could've started the fire.

The wood-burning stoves tend to be cleaned from the pot downwards,

so keep your build-up of soot and cinders build-up

just above the...stove.

They can collect, heat up and eventually go on fire as well.

And it looks like that could've been the cause.

Another factor could be how the stove system was put in.

What's happened is the construction of the fire means that

they've a short pipe, short chimney,

up into the original chimney of the house.

They're using the original chimney of the house as a chimney.

It looks like the chimney lining's only been fitted part-way

up the cavity. Soot's built up within the crevasses,

and it's this debris that may have burst into flames.

The homeowner's son, Ben,

has just got back from work to find two fire crews at his house.

The Fire Brigade are doing an excellent job.

It's pandemonium here just now but it's quite exciting!

I literally had just got off work

and this..is a bit unexpected.

While the team clear out the remaining soot from below,

crew manager Murray Cox goes up to the roof

to pour water down from above.

30 years' service has given him the skills he needs

to work in these situations.

The chimney's completely blocked so they use special rods

to try and dislodge the debris.

We've been fighting the fire from the roof

by putting water on the fire using a hose reel.

In addition, we've been using chimney rods

from the fire itself in order to get up into the flue.

We've partially dismantled the wood-burning stove

in order to get access.

The crew are struggling to get to the source of the fire.

They've finally got the source of the fire.

They quickly put it out while their colleagues check the loft

to make sure the fire hasn't travelled up.

The second loft hatch, the loft hatch has split in two.

From the extension which is on the other side

where we've been checking, and that's checking for signs of heat, smoke, any water.

The fire hasn't spread and the chimney is now safe.

That was what we were checking the chimney for the other day.

Basically, both were wood-burning stoves

and both exactly the same scenario why they went on fire as well.

That's us back to the station now and that's us finished for the day.

For Ben and his family, the danger has gone

but the consequences are enormous.

The chimney's got to be knocked out and completely reconstructed,

which, close to Christmas, it's going to be a real inconvenience

because the house is 110 years old,

there's no type of insulation and it's really, really cold.

And they're not just facing a cold Christmas.

It could be a very expensive one, too.

The best part of £1,500 they spent on the fire

and that's all just down the drain now.

Or up the fire, if you want to put it that way!

It's been all go for the emergency services in Scotland's rural areas.

After being grounded for the night,

the Navy helicopter was de-iced.

And there was time for a snowball fight before they returned to base.

The red van driver was released pending further enquiries.

The statements from the numerous trademark holders will take time to come in.

The driver may be charged and if he pleads not guilty,

it will go to court.

And since attending the two chimney fires, the Elgin Fire Service

have dealt with several more in the winter months.

So make sure you get yours swept and checked

before striking that match.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd