Episode 12 Countryside 999

From the Highlands of Scotland

to the coast of Cornwall,

the Great British countryside is spectacular.

But we work and play in it at our peril.

And when things go wrong,

the emergency services race to the rescue.

This chap is having a heart attack

and we need to get him in quickly.

You're under arrest for failing stop for police.

Going hundreds of miles against the clock,

battling the elements

and braving the weather.

Lower the winch.

From fields and forests

to cliffs and country roads.

We'll be right at the heart of the action

with police fighting crime...

I've got suspicions that there might be cannabis being used.

..paramedics saving lives...

BABY CRIES

..and wardens safeguarding our lakes.

Come out of the way!

We're there as the emergency services pull together to

pick up, patch up, and protect the public.

This is Countryside 999.

Coming up...

Paramedics on the Isle of Man race to help a woman

who's just given birth in some very surprising circumstances.

But Mum's not the only one in shock.

Didn't even know she was pregnant.

The Royal Navy join the hunt for a man missing in the Firth of Forth.

And Hereford's own Cagney and Lacey crack down on drug driving.

The reason that we've stopped you is as we passed you

there's an enormous smell of cannabis coming from your vehicle.

The Isle of Man.

A breathtaking haven, 30 miles off England's west coast.

Though, for the last 90 years,

there's been an annual disturbance of the peace.

ENGINE REVS

This is the Manx Grand Prix.

A two-week event which sees up to 400

amateur and professional riders battle it out.

But with it come road closures - up to 11 hours a day...

..creating havoc for the likes

of paramedics Mark Dodd and Karen Conner.

And today, in the midst of the craziness,

there's a 999 call like no other.

Within seconds Mark and Karen are on a blue light.

From their base in Douglas,

it's four miles to just outside the village of Onchan...

..a journey that normally takes six minutes.

..who was unaware that she was pregnant.

She must have thought it was just stomach cramps.

And she's given birth, in the downstairs toilet.

While they race to the scene,

the emergency operator stays on the line to a bewildered new mum.

This will be Mark's sixth delivery.

They're like a bar of soap when they come out. They're very slippy.

And a friendly wager on the baby's gender is a must.

Kit Kat. I'd go for...

I'll go for a girl

Despite the road closures,

they arrive on scene in just ten minutes...

where 24-year-old Stephanie and newborn

haven't moved from the downstairs loo.

-Yeah.

-Yeah, OK.

Red Cross medic Sue Plant got here a few minutes ago.

The baby was already here. Just checked her over.

Soon followed my family friends

and Martin, the baby's 26-year-old dad.

Didn't even know she was pregnant.

She's just delivered it now!

Mum seemed pretty calm.

Not as shocked as Dad.

Scary.

Yeah, she took it all in her stride.

She was quite calm and...

Karen reassured her.

She was just very quiet initially, very pale,

as you would be, I suppose, if you'd just given birth

and you didn't expect it to happen.

Stephanie had been for tests for stomach cramps

and slight weight gain, but no-one realised she was pregnant.

Girl.

Karen's priority is cutting the umbilical cord.

We always give Dad the option to cut the cord

when it happens in the hospital, so...

Do you want to cut the cord?

Go on, lad.

Get in there.

Martin was very shaky and very emotional

cos it's something that can only ever happen once.

We just talked him through what he needed to do

and where he needed to cut it, so he'll always have that memory now.

Martin and Stephanie have been together for six years

and they still live with Stephanie's mum and dad.

When I handed him the scissors, he was pretty shaky.

I would say...

rabbit in headlights kind of look.

-Just got Dad to cut the cord.

-All right?

-I couldn't blame him at all.

-Are you all right?

Although I would say both of them were in total shock,

Martin was just in floods of tears.

Go and have a seat in the ambulance cos you'll want to come with us.

Well done, mate.

Just 20 minutes old,

this little girl has already turned her parents' world upside down.

She's a good colour.

THEY LAUGH

Right now, she needs a thorough examination.

After all, it's not every baby that's born in the downstairs loo.

Across the British Isles...

..in some of our most remote locations...

..from Scotland's highest peaks...

..to the dense valleys of the Lake District...

..Royal Navy Search and Rescue squad HMS Gannet

covers an area roughly 12 times the size of Wales.

Today, a call's come in.

Following reports of a man in the waters of the Firth of Forth,

emergency services have been called.

A Gannet crew is joining the search.

When you're responding to an incident that doesn't sound

too good, experience would dictate that you never, ever know.

I've been on jobs where you could almost guarantee that the

people have died and they haven't - they've been fit and well.

And likewise, you've been on what sounded like quite a minor

incident and, unfortunately, the worst happened.

So, yeah, I always go in there with a positive attitude.

HMS Gannet is called to sea

and river searches around 12 times a year.

Onboard are pilot Stuart Pike...

..and Lieutenant MV Hammond...

..along with winch operator Richie Lightfoot...

..and winchman paramedic Mike Henson, better known as H.

If a person has died then I would prefer to find that person

and hand them back over to their families, so that the family

gets a little bit of closure,

but also that, sort of, a young child on the beach

or a family who haven't built up a resistance to that sort of thing

could find that person and be quite traumatised.

From their base in Prestwick,

they're flying 58 miles towards Edinburgh

and the Firth of Forth.

'177, Kinloss Rescue. Roger. Out.'

They'll coordinate with police and the coastguard to make

a strategic search of the surrounding water.

But with two bridges in the middle of their flight path,

the crew need to keep their wits about them.

If we were out at sea and there was no obstructions around,

everybody could have their eyes out and searching.

Yep.

In that particular incident, we prefer the pilots not to search,

as such, and keep us clear of all the obstructions.

So you've kind of degraded your search ability as a team

by 50% straightaway.

The crew begins with a low-level sweep.

We had to fly under bridges and around obstacles.

We felt 60 feet was giving us our

best opportunity of finding something.

As far as the search pattern goes, it was quite frustrating

because we had an accurate grid position, and because

we couldn't find him, it gets really frustrating.

You think, it must be...either he got out without anybody seeing,

or, you know, it may be that they're, unfortunately, submerged

to the point where we can't see them.

An initial sweep of the area takes seven minutes.

But with no immediate sign of the casualty,

the crew concentrate on a series of smaller search grids.

Every possibility needs to be explored.

If the crew find the missing person,

it will be H's job to get him safely on board.

After 40 minutes, neither police, the coastguard or HMS Gannet

have found any trace of the casualty.

They decide on a different approach.

We went to 500 feet to clear all the obstructions

that were knocking around,

but that also gave us a big view

of the area so we could see the whole area we were searching.

It also allowed us to see just below the surface of the water.

From past experiences, sometimes when people have drowned,

they'll be submerged just slightly below the water.

After 90 minutes, there's still no trace of the missing person.

The call is made to end the search.

Of HMS Gannet's 300 search and rescue missions a year,

80% have a positive outcome.

But not every callout ends well.

How people deal with that is very, very different for everybody.

Like to think I'm doing a service

even if the outcome isn't what we want.

The way I live with it is the fact that I know that

I gave 100%

and there's nothing else I could have possibly done to change that.

A new day and another call's come in.

A 58-year-old woman has been injured while hill walking.

From their base the crew are flying 30 miles north

to a rural location in Inverclyde.

It's taken ground paramedics three hours to find

the casualty in the remote spot.

Now they're struggling to get her to hospital.

People get, what we call, a minor injury.

They're reluctant to call for assistance,

and then when they call for assistance,

secondary problems such as hypothermia

or hypoglycaemia can set in.

Meanwhile, winch operator Richard Swales

is worried about the landing.

-Open the door now.

-Clear door.

But as they reach the coordinates they've been given,

there's another problem.

The initial grid was slightly inaccurate.

But within the vicinity,

however, we could see a farmer pointing us in the direction

of where we needed to go.

After searching the surrounding area,

it turns out to be an ambulance from another incident.

Unfortunately, the farmer was aware of another job that was

happening at the time, so pointing us in the complete wrong direction.

And more than three hours after her fall,

the casualty they are looking for is still waiting for help.

From bad directions to a surprise delivery.

On the Isle of Man,

paramedics Mark and Karen still have their hands full.

Just 20 minutes ago, and to everyone's surprise...

She's just delivered it now!

..24-year-old Stephanie

gave birth in her mum and dad's downstairs loo.

She's a good colour.

Although I would say both of them were in total shock,

she'd obviously handled it really well

and Martin was just in floods of tears and shaking.

The baby's five critical factors need to be assessed.

Her appearance, pulse, reflexes, activity and breathing.

The baby appeared nice and pink.

Pulse rate was above 100.

BABY CRIES

The baby had good response to stimulation.

Activity, you could see the baby's arms and legs were nicely flexed

and the respiratory rate, the baby appeared to be breathing normally.

She's in good shape. Now it's Mum's turn.

Which means finally leaving the downstairs loo.

Family friend Amy gives Stephanie's dad the incredible news.

It's your dad.

She's just going now, she's just leaving the house.

Her mum, Tracy, now a grandmother, arrives home just in time.

-You all right?

-Can you make your way up to the hospital?

Yeah.

You're OK, don't worry.

The next stop for these young parents

is Noble's Hospital in Douglas.

Though both are still in shock.

Although Stephanie had been to her GP and undergone

a series of tests, pregnancy was the last thing on anyone's mind.

She thought she had a medical term called IBS,

Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

She's gone to the toilet with stomach cramps

and out popped a baby.

MAN LAUGHS

That was pretty new to me because all the other births

I've been to, all the ladies had known that they were pregnant,

so it wasn't too much of a shock for them.

Stephanie is a nursery nurse,

but now she has a new role to consider.

No.

She looks full term. She looks a healthy baby.

-SPEECH DROWNED OUT

-Yeah.

You know, it's...

She felt a good weight when I picked her up.

She's got all her features, got all her toes and, yeah.

At the hospital, a team of midwives is ready and waiting.

Hello.

-Hiya.

-Hi.

Both Mum and daughter will be thoroughly checked over.

Maybe even Dad, too.

Meanwhile, paramedics Karen and Mark still have a bet to settle.

We had a bit of a gamble on which sex the baby would be.

I went for a girl and, yeah, Karen went for the boy and, yeah.

She still hasn't given me the Kit Kat yet, so she owes me one!

170 miles southeast of the Isle of Man...

..you'll find Herefordshire in the West Midlands.

One of the most rural

and sparsely-populated counties in England.

Patrolling its 842 square miles are around 200 police officers.

Amongst them, a duo affectionately known by their colleagues

as Cagney and Lacey.

Testing Taser!

-PC Sarah Smith...

-Have you got your insurance documents to hand?

..and PC Sam Davis.

Take care, ta-ra.

I'm what you would call a rural bird,

so it didn't even occur to me

to move to the city to be a police officer.

I just wanted to police where I grew up

and police in areas that I knew best, really.

But many of the crimes associated with cities

are also a big problem in the country,

such as driving under the influence, not just of alcohol, but drugs.

I think, generally, car-loads of lads will go and park up

at a beauty spot or somewhere nice and quiet and have a joint,

and sort of chill out and listen to music and then drive home.

They might feel OK but if they're over the limit,

they're over the limit.

It's 10.25pm.

OK, have a safe journey. All right. Bye-bye.

Sarah and Sam are on patrol looking out for any suspicious vehicles.

SIREN WAILS

15 miles from their Hereford base,

they stop two men driving through the village of Symonds Yat.

Have you got any ID on you, mate?

They suspect the driver may be under the influence of cannabis.

The reason that we've stopped you is as we passed you there's

-an enormous smell of cannabis coming from your vehicle.

-OK.

I take it you've just been out for a joint, have you?

Right, OK.

What about you, lad? Have you got any cannabis in here?

Cos we're going to search it, so it's probably easier if you tell us

there is some, then it's easier to deal with, isn't it?

-I've got a little bit in my pocket here.

-Right, OK.

Do you want to just chuck it up on top of the car for us?

For small amounts, it's at police discretion

whether or not to charge for possession.

Right, get your filter, then, before it...

It's covered in muck.

Though, if the passenger has had a previous drug conviction

in the last 12 months, Sarah has to arrest him

or summon him to court later.

Have you been dealt with for possession of cannabis before?

There's not a lot in there.

Enough to make me sneeze!

So I shall put the lid back on.

Sarah searches the vehicle while Sam questions the driver.

From our point of view, I need to be happy that when you drive

this car away, you're not under the influence of it, all right.

-So what I'm going to be doing...

-I've had a shandy at the pub.

-That's fair enough.

What I'll do, I'll give you a quick breath test and then because

of the strong smell of cannabis, what I'm going to be doing

is requesting a swab, basically, a saliva swab from you.

No problem.

Section 5A of the Road Traffic Act,

which is basically over excess drugs.

Legal limits for driving under the influence of eight drugs,

including heroin, cocaine and cannabis,

were introduced in March 2015.

-Have you had a smoke or anything?

-Last night I had a smoke.

I did maybe... I had... Just last night, nothing today.

Right, OK.

Since then, more than 400 motorists a month have been

arrested for drug driving.

Driving whilst under the influence of drugs is

just the same as driving whilst under the influence of alcohol.

It's very dangerous and can cause accidents.

If it comes back as showing

that you're under the influence of cannabis, OK,

and picks up a trace of that, obviously, you'll be arrested.

You'll be coming to Hereford Police Station

and then we'll go through a procedure which I'll explain

-if that comes to it, OK.

-OK.

The fact that I had a smoke last night, will it make a difference

-to this, or not?

-I can't really say, mate, to be honest.

Let's just see what the old swab says, all right?

Meanwhile, the police database reveals the passenger's

conviction was less than a year ago.

-When was it?

-22nd September.

-It's not quite a year, then.

-No.

-All right.

-What does that mean, then?

What I'm going to have to do is

arrest you on suspicion of possession of cannabis, OK.

You do not have to say anything.

It may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned

something you later rely on in court. Anything that you do say

-may be given in evidence, OK?

-Right.

What we'll do is get a quick interview.

Do I have to come to the police station or anything like that?

It's probably quicker to, yeah. I know.

-What, Hereford?

-Yeah.

I know.

That's it.

And a second arrest tonight depends on this small piece of plastic.

It takes eight minutes to give a result.

It's a little bit like a pregnancy test.

It sort of gives two lines if it's a positive

and one line if it's a negative.

The results are in.

Right, let's have a look at the scores on the doors.

I'll show you the result. Come here.

You can see in the light, then.

I haven't smoked anything today, my love. I promise you.

I've been in the pub all night.

-Look at this, OK.

-Yeah, I'm looking.

-Double line for cannabis there. Can you see it?

-I can see it.

Yeah, you've got one for cocaine, which means it's worked.

-The test has worked correctly.

-Right.

So cocaine's not showing anything, but cannabis is, OK.

So at this present moment in time you're under arrest on suspicion

of driving a motor vehicle with excess drugs, OK.

-You do not have to say anything...

-I haven't smoked anything...

It may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned

something which you'll later rely on in court. Anything you do say

may be given in evidence, OK?

What's going to happen now,

I'm going to take you...

Listen to me, OK.

You're going to have to come into the police station...

No, it's all right. No, it's fair enough.

That doesn't lie, OK. It's not...

I've done the test with you and it shows

that you have got a trace of it, OK.

Whether that amount is above the legal limit or under

the legal limit is not for me to say, is it?

But what we need to do, we need to get you to custody.

We'll call a doctor out, he'll take a blood test

and then that'll be analysed, OK?

And that'll be the decision on whether you are driving with excess

-drugs or not, all right? Simple as.

-OK.

-So, OK.

Both men live locally, but the main police station is in Hereford.

-You mum?

-She rang me a minute ago.

Yeah, give your mum a ring. Go on, then. Yeah, go on.

Which means a 34-mile round trip.

Rural policing, it's not just about arresting them

and taking them to the police station.

You've got to make sure they get home safely, as well.

So sometimes we arrest, sometimes we deal with roadside.

It just depends on the situation.

In this instance, Sarah decides to de-arrest the passenger

and interview him in situ.

You're entitled to free and independent legal advice

-at any time. Do you understand?

-Yes.

Asked all the questions that I would've asked

if I'd brought him into custody.

Tell me what's the substance I've just seized from you.

And then I reported him for summons which basically means that he'll

get a letter in the post telling him what date to go to court.

Because you've already been to court for cannabis,

I can only assume that you're going to go to court again.

If you hadn't been to court or had any problems

with cannabis before, we could be looking at giving you

a street warning or a fixed-penalty ticket or something different,

but because you've got previous, and it's less than a year ago...

I'm not the decision-maker,

-but I can only assume that you will be going to court.

-Right, OK.

All right. So you get yourself home.

Go and explain to Daddy why you've been pulled by the police...

See you in a bit, mate.

-..and we'll look after your mate, all right?

-All right, no worries.

-All right. Take it easy.

-Take care.

A lot of jobs we do, it can be dealt with in custody,

it can be dealt with side of the road on a voluntary basis.

We just have to make the judgment call,

you know, what we're going to do.

If it was a large amount of cannabis or we thought for a second he was

growing it at home, something like that, then we need to arrest him

so we can get the power...the authority to get a search

of his house, for example.

But that was a tiny little bit just for his own use.

So that was it, really.

So, let's get this other one to custody.

Come through, then.

17 miles later, at Hereford station, the driver is searched...

..processed....

You do have the right to speak to a solicitor.

..and will be given a blood test

to accurately measure the level of cannabis in his system.

The doctor is en route so it shouldn't take too long.

If the blood test proves he's over the limit,

this driver faces a 12-month driving ban.

They might feel OK,

but if they're over the limit, they're over the limit,

and I don't think they've considered that before,

but I think this new legislation will address that.

That's section 5A, or 3A of the Road Traffic Act 1988,

do you understand?

Cannabis, in particular, it slows your system down.

Inevitably then slows your reaction time down,

so slows your braking distances, everything else.

Once the blood test is complete, he'll be allowed to go home.

But it will be several weeks before he gets the results.

If you're under the influence of whether it's alcohol or drugs,

it's a no-go behind the wheel.

We have to pick up the pieces at the end of the day

and it's sometimes not very pretty.

280 miles from Hereford, in Inverclyde...

..the crew from HMS Gannet is still searching a remote area

for an injured hill walker.

They lost valuable time when a local farmer sent them

in the wrong direction.

There was a couple of false starts and a bit of confusion

cos it was well away from the position we were passed.

Winch operator Richard Swales is frustrated by the delay.

The farmer that was next to the ambulances was gesticulating

to us to head up the valley, basically, to where he thought

we were coming to attend.

Finally, there's a breakthrough.

9 o'clock. Visual and casualty. 9 o'clock.

But now there's another concern -

landing.

The casualty was in quite a remote area

and the area was pretty bad underfoot, quite swampy ground.

Where the pilot's positioned, they can't really see

below the aircraft.

They also can't see behind, and in certain areas

where we land with rising ground

the rotors can get pretty close to the ground.

So we, basically, provide the eyes for the pilot.

Part of that is to talk them down to the correct area

and looking out for any hazards.

58-year-old Dot twisted her ankle

when a footbridge collapsed underneath her.

Most of the pain, it was in

what we call the popliteal space,

which is just behind the knee.

The casualty had had surgery on that knee,

so it could have been a kind of a weak part of her anatomy.

She was in a fair bit of pain,

but she'd refused pain relief from the ambulance crew.

Dot was walking with her friend Dawn

when the accident happened,

but a lack of mobile coverage

and the rugged terrain has hampered the rescue attempt.

She's been lying here for three-and-a-half hours.

We've managed to find a little route across the boggy ground,

so, just with the inherent risk of winching, it's not worth...

The risk versus the benefit isn't worth it.

So we're going to package the casualty into the stretcher

and just walk her across to the aircraft

and get her on the way to hospital.

But even this small journey requires military precision.

And Dot's pain begins to worsen.

When we were just about to move the casualty to the aircraft,

she decided the pain was now becoming unbearable.

You would? OK, I've got some...

Once onboard the helicopter, H can give Dot Entonox,

a mixture of oxygen and nitrous oxide.

But first, he needs to get her there.

Roger. Just about to ready to go.

The crew sets course for Glasgow.

And Dot receives much-needed pain relief.

Giving the Entonox helped.

That brought her pain score from

an eight out of ten down to a four out of ten.

There's a lot of extrinsic factors

that can make a pain score better or worse.

Quite often, when a patient's out of the elements and is getting

reassured and talked to, that can bring their pain score down.

In just 13 minutes, the crew touches down at

Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow's newest medical facility.

From the rooftop helipad, it's a short trip to A & E,

where Dot can finally get the treatment she needs.

On the Isle of Man,

24-year-old Stephanie had the shock of her life when

what she thought were stomach cramps turned out to be a baby.

Despite road closures, paramedics Mark Dodd

and Karen Conner got there in just ten minutes.

Though, while Mum and daughter were in good health,

Dad was a nervous wreck.

Didn't even know she was pregnant!

-When did you find out?

-She's just delivered it now!

After an unorthodox delivery,

the surprised new parents found themselves

in Noble's Maternity Ward.

Three weeks later, Stephanie, Martin

and the newly-named Maisie, are back home.

A lot of people call her Amazing Maisie.

Cos she was a surprise.

Honestly, I thought it was just a stomach bug, stomach pains,

stomach cramps, and thought it would pass.

Just thought it was some kind of bug that I had.

After seeing her GP, Stephanie was diagnosed

as having a wheat intolerance, until that fateful day.

I just felt like I needed the toilet constantly.

Was pretty much on and off the toilet all day.

I told Mum to take me to hospital but she said, no, that A & E

wouldn't thank me for a stomach bug.

She told me to stay at home.

This urge just came over me to push and I...

was obviously a bit confused, a bit, like, no, you don't need to,

but it's obviously something that you can't stop,

and the second time I pushed, I seen a head,

and then the third time, she came out!

I stood up and caught her at the same time.

I was panicking that she might hit her head.

And as I pulled her from the toilet,

she had the umbilical cord round her neck,

which I took from round her neck,

and that's when she started screaming.

Then Stephanie phoned 999.

I said, "I swear I didn't know I was pregnant,"

and she said, "You don't have to justify it to me."

Next thing, I get this phone call which I didn't think was real

cos I was swearing at her and all sorts, you know.

One of them phone calls you don't believe, isn't it?

If somebody said, "I've won the lottery," you might believe that,

but you saying, "I've just had a baby and didn't know about it,"

it's a big shock.

Scary.

Just didn't believe me and then, obviously, Martin heard her crying

and asked me what it was.

Thought it was the dog, and I said, "No, it's not the dog, it's a baby."

I went through a few red lights and that to get home, so...

As soon as I came in, obviously,

I went to see if Steph was all right.

Had a little look at her, then obviously just a bit shocked.

I was crying my eyes out.

Yeah, it was an emotional day, to be honest.

Baby Maisie was born a healthy 7lb 5oz,

and despite her unusual start in life,

her mum and dad are happy to report she's in perfect health.

It's been all go for the emergency services

across the British Isles.

In Herefordshire, the driver stopped for drug driving

was given an evidential blood test

which proved the levels of cannabis in his system

were under the legal limit and all charges were dropped.

But his friend was charged with possession of cannabis

and summoned to court.

In Scotland, injured hill walker Dot

has been treated for a torn muscle in her knee and a sprained ankle.

After three weeks' R&R, she's steering clear of steep hills,

but managing the odd short walk with her dog.

And on the Isle of Man,

amazing Maisie is now sleeping through the night.

Dad's almost over the shock,

and Mum is officially on maternity leave.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.