Episode 5 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.

SIREN WAILS

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.

DOG BARKS

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....

In Herefordshire countryside cops search for an illegal gun.

On a dark night if that was pointed at me,

yeah, obviously that would be quite concerning.

A Navy helicopter battles dense cloud to find missing

walkers on the Isle of Arran.

They walked off Goat Fell. They don't know which direction.

They're lost and they're close to a cliff edge.

And Isle of Man paramedics treat an extreme allergic reaction.

It's like being burnt with hot water.

With stunning coastlines,

rolling hills

and miles of farmland...

..it's little wonder nearly 20% of Brits live in the countryside.

The remoteness is appealing, but it also appeals to criminals.

In rural Herefordshire,

the police deal with everything from farm theft to illegal drugs.

Got anything over, you'll be coming with us to Hereford custody.

And for PC Sam Davis, it's her dream job.

Deep breath. That's it, blow, blow, blow...

I always wanted to be a police officer when I was a kid, just

like most other officers but I'm what you would call a rural bird.

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.

Sam usually works on her own,

clocking up over 200 miles a day.

SHE GROANS

But today, PC Sarah Smith's joining her on roads patrol.

That's better.

The officers are on the A4103, outside

Yarkhill in an unmarked car when they spot a suspicious vehicle.

Oh, hello.

The driver of the silver Mercedes stalled,

or bunny-hopped at the road junction.

Instincts tell the PCs something's not right.

They go back to investigate.

I don't know why, he just bunny-hopped there.

Ah, there it is.

Now the bunny-hopper's parked on the other side of the road.

One-three vehicle check, please.

'Stand by.'

Thank you, 3268, it's a sighting on the A4103.

As a traffic officer you kind of a get a gut

feeling on a lot of things.

At the end of the day he could have been nicking the vehicle

and he could have jump-started it, anything.

Could be running out of fuel, innocently.

We've checked it on the computer and it's come back with

the vehicle's in-trade with no keeper and no insurance.

Not quite sure what he was doing.

Well, he clocked us.

Well, did he or didn't he?

So we shall see.

Oh, he's now out walking. No, what's he doing?

The driver's stepped away from the silver Merc.

-You OK, buddy?

-Hiya.

It's the police.

Just saw you pulling out there, you looked like you've got bother.

-No.

-Oh. Is that your car?

No, it's my dad's car.

Oh, right, got you, OK.

Just wondered if you'd broken down or something.

No, it's all OK, love.

Hang on a minute, then.

No, my dad was driving it, I just come down to see it was OK.

Before you carry on, I'm going to caution you, OK?

We know what we've just seen. You don't have to say anything but it could harm your defence

if you do not mention when cautioned something which later

on in court...anything you do say may be given in evidence, all right?

I decided I'd caution him straightaway, because he was,

he was playing silly devils.

I knew what I'd seen, Sarah knew what she'd seen,

it was definitely him , the driver.

It was you driving, cos we've just both seen you, OK?

-We've just seen you get out, as well.

-We know what we've seen.

-Have you got a licence?

-Yeah, I've got a driver's licence.

I guess you're all insured and everything on the vehicle, yeah?

Is that why you're being a bit...?

No, there's no insurance on the vehicle. I wasn't driving it.

Then Sam realises she stopped him a few months ago,

on suspicion of driving without road tax.

I think I've met you before, haven't I?

Yeah, you have, yeah.

I have, yes, I remember that day. You got any insurance to drive it?

-Yeah, I've got insurance, yeah.

-That covers you to drive that if it's got no insurance?

But I wasn't driving it.

I've got insurance, fully comp on a truck.

Right, I think you need to take a seat in the back of our car

cos we need to have a quick discussion, don't we? All right? Thank you.

As soon as I sat him in the car, that's almost like,

we mean business, spoken to him on the side of the road.

He's still denying it, albeit he's been cautioned.

It just makes it a bit more formal.

Righty.

I appreciate that it's your dad's vehicle,

but at the end of the day you're the one we've seen driving, OK?

Based on that, I'm going to be reporting you for consideration of prosecution for driving a motor

vehicle on the road with no insurance. I'm also going to be reporting you for consideration

of prosecution for driving a motor vehicle on a road without any

tax, without any vehicle excess licence.

Do you understand what both of the offences are, yeah?

How long's your dad had the vehicle?

Couple of days.

He might deny driving the car,

but it doesn't stop him plotting his defence.

What about if I have got fully comp insurance on my truck,

because it says I can drive any other vehicle?

OK. Usually it's any other car, third party,

if there's a policy on the vehicle.

That's what, nine times out of ten what it means.

Then he thinks he might be covered under his dad's trade policy.

But what about if he's put it on a trade policy?

Trade policy takes 48 hours for it to go onto.

OK. On all the systems it's showing it's got no insurance.

There's no option but to seize the car.

This stop-check we've just done, he's got no insurance

and no tax, can we arrange a recovery, please?

Then the driver lets something slip.

The keys are on the wheel there.

The keys are on the wheel? OK. Thank you.

-And there's no diesel in it.

-Is that why you were bunny-hopping across the road, was it?

Yeah.

-The keys are on the wheel.

-Has he decided he is the driver now?

Yeah.

He told us where the keys were, and he told us the reason he'd

bunny-hopped or kangaroo-hopped, whatever you want to call it,

was because it had run out of fuel.

How's he going to know that if he wasn't the driver?

Facing a fine, points and a hefty fee to get the car back,

the driver tries another tactic.

It's only two seconds, isn't it, a bit hard, isn't it?

I know, but if you'd have been bunny-hopping,

and you've had bunny-hopped in front

of an old granny, or something like that...

Seems a bit hard, though, isn't it?

We had this conversation last time we seized a vehicle off you, didn't we?

-OK, and you hadn't had that one long, had you?

-No.

-No.

That's me, Sam Davis, I'm based at Hereford on the Roads Policing Unit,

-and that's your licence details there, all right?

-OK, cheers.

-I don't want to see you again, do I?

-I don't want to see you ever again.

I don't want to see you again, no. I said that last time.

Finally the lad can walk home with his cousin, who's just arrived.

That was unfortunate luck for him, wasn't it?

Not five months ago, I stopped that young lad from driving,

he was in a van in Hereford, looking suspicious,

and he happened to have no tax so I seized that vehicle as well.

Oh, dear. Long walk home.

Sam and Sarah think the job's a good 'un,

until an unexpected visitor rolls up.

Dad.

Hello!

That's my car you've got on the back of there.

Oh, is it? Do you want to just pull off the road, cos you've got

a wagon behind you?

Bear with me.

Just as the recovery truck pulled up, Dad turned up in his car,

wanted to know what was going on, and then he said,

"Yeah we've only just bought it a couple of days ago."

He was as happy as he could be when he left,

but then the car drove past his house on the back of a tow-truck.

All right. Take care, ta-ra!

His son's cost him a couple of quid, yeah.

It's going to be a few hundred pounds.

I think somebody's in the doghouse.

It's done and dusted.

But it won't be long until Dad's in the doghouse, too,

when their paths cross again on a search warrant.

-OK, do you mind if I come in?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

From country roads patrol to Air Rescue.

Our rural emergency services face extreme challenges and high risks.

HMS Gannet in Ayrshire is one of the UK's busiest Search

and Rescue helicopter units.

They respond to around 300 call-outs a year,

often in treacherous mountain terrain.

SIREN BLEEPS

On shift, observer Chris Flynn and winchman Gary Kneeshaw.

So we've been scrambled to two missing walkers, two young

female walkers on Goatfell, which is the highest peak on Arran.

Effectively the cloud base is down so they're lost on or

just off of the summit somewhere, so we'll go and see where they are.

Hopefully get them with the MRT, and get them found and back safe.

From their Prestwick base, the crew are speeding 25

miles to the Isle of Arran and to its highest peak,

Goatfell where they'll rendezvous with the local Mountain Rescue Team.

The two young women were on a charity walk,

up the 2,800ft Goatfell mountain

when the clouds closed in and they became lost.

In such poor conditions, falling from a cliff

and hypothermia are real risks.

Less than ten minutes after takeoff,

Arran's mountains are in sight, just.

Chris tries one of the walkers' mobiles.

There's no signal.

He radios the Mountain Rescue Team, or MRT.

Since the walkers set out,

the weather has changed dramatically for the worse.

I think anyone who's been in the mountains will be able to

tell you that the conditions can quickly change and what might

appear to be a great day as you set out, could quickly become an awful

day as you start to return or even reach the peak of a mountain.

With Goatfell in front of them,

they need to rendezvous with the MRT.

Winchman Gary Kneeshaw gets an update on the lost walkers.

How's it going, all right?

Good. Nice to meet you. Right.

And news on a search team's progress further up the mountain.

The two women still haven't been found, but Mountain Rescue

know from patchy phone contact they've had, they're not injured.

With no urgent medical issues, the air crew won't risk

a search in such dangerous flying conditions, but they can save

the MRT's energy and time, with a lift a little further up.

20 yards.

Half-past three now, ten yards. Go down slowly.

One to the tail. Yep, that's good, hold the phone there, OK?

That's one man gone. Second man's away.

Last man's going out, kit's going. First bag, second, last bag.

Clear the aircraft. Clear now at three o'clock.

Continue up, continue up. Tail's clear.

The ground team are now the lost walkers' best bet for rescue.

As they take off, pilot Martin Lannie spots some clear

weather on the other side of the mountain, and wants to search there.

They can't see anything, and the weather's closing in even more.

Then, some good news.

The walkers' phones have a signal again,

and the MRT have an update.

The air crew return to base.

But they'll be back, when one of the walkers needs urgent help.

Nearly 300 miles south of Arran is rural Herefordshire.

Here the countryside presents a very different

set of challenges for the emergency services.

For PC Sam Davis, it's the start of a weekend shift.

Very early morning.

Just getting ready for the first early shift, which is a day

shift, starts at seven.

This holds my Taser, most importantly,

all the cartridges, PAVA, handcuffs, key, etc.

And my little knick-knacks in the pockets.

Armed with her PAVA, an incapacitating spray,

and a Taser, Sam's well prepared.

Today we've got a warrant which we're going to

execute with the shift.

The search warrant's the result of a tip-off.

There's an unlicensed firearm on a property in their patch.

Testing Taser!

Taser's very useful kit to have.

It's just nice to know that you have got it there

if worst comes to the worst.

Luckily you don't very often use it.

You know you're in trouble if you're having to pull a Taser out.

A job like this needs backup.

There's the ARV, which is the firearms officers,

that crew's going, I'm going,

and we've also got a dog handler with a firearms detection dog.

So there's the three crews going to do it.

There are 790,000 gun licences in the UK.

But with around 5,000 offences involving firearms

every year, leads on illegal weapons must be followed up.

We get quite a few incidents involving firearms.

Mainly because it's rural.

Get a lot of reports of people shooting, poaching, that sort

of thing, but then you also get the incidents where domestics happen.

With regards to this one we've got reason to believe there's

possibly parts, component parts and ammunition at the premises.

To my knowledge, this person hasn't got a licence.

At the rendezvous point, Sam meets police dog handler Ade Hunting,

and the firearms crew.

We're more likely to catch the person at home

if we go at half-seven, eight o'clock in the morning

than we are if we rock up at three o'clock in the afternoon.

So we did the relevant checks, we had a look at the mapping

to see where the site was, how many entrances, exits that sort of thing.

We also then look at the previous

history of that person that's supposedly got this firearm.

We've just had a quick briefing.

We're going to go in first, followed by the other crews

and just see what comes up, really.

What does come up is a familiar silver car.

Turns out this property belongs to the father of the bunny-hop lad

Sam and her colleague stopped just over a week ago.

Ah, there's a big Rottie there as well.

Firearms Sergeant Andy Wardly has found the suspect.

Are you on your own in here, or have you got family?

-My wife, yeah.

-OK, do you mind if I come in?

Yeah.

And it's deja vu for Sam when the bunny-hopper gets up.

Don't worry. Just talking to your dad.

All right, just having a chat with your dad, all right?

Morning!

The suspect is home, but does he have a gun?

At the heart of the British Isles, in the centre of the Irish Sea,

lies the Isle of Man.

A unique island kingdom, with stunning scenery.

Helping respond to around 9,000 emergency calls

every year on the island, are paramedic Sean Crelin,

and Emergency Medical Technician, Sean Cannon.

But today's the end of an era for the duo.

Sean Crelin's leaving the ambulance service to

work in Noble's Hospital in the island's capital, Douglas.

Yeah, today myself and Sean are on

our last-ever shift together, as a full-time crew.

I don't know who's had enough of who.

More than likely he's had enough of me.

So I'm looking forward to joining them and getting stuck in.

New adventures.

The crew are on the road when an urgent case comes in.

SIREN WAILS

We've just had an upgraded call from a GP.

It's in Ballasalla in the south of the island,

so our travel time is probably about five minutes.

We'll get in to see the patient and we'll assess her condition.

From their current position in Port Erin,

the patient is six miles east in Ballasalla village.

She's turned up at her local surgery with a severe allergic reaction.

There's always a risk that it can turn into a full anaphylactic

shock, so I'm guessing that's probably why the GP has got us involved.

Anaphylactic shock is an extreme allergic reaction that can be fatal.

Symptoms can include a raised red skin rash

and breathing difficulties.

Alpha 102, we're on the scene now.

'Roger, thank you.'

In seven minutes they arrive.

Denise has been suffering for nearly a week.

We'll get you on our bed and get you comfortable.

Despite a previous visit to the doctor, her painful rash is

refusing to calm down.

Her reaction was quite substantial, she was

absolutely covered from head to foot in a blistering rash.

She had a very high temperature.

And the discomfort she must have been suffering for six days,

I don't know how she coped with it.

Do you know what set it off?

Do you have any allergies to anything?

Any foods that you're not allowed to take or have affected you?

Does it feel really itchy?

We'll attempt to try and see if we can find a vein, and

if we can we'll be able to give you some medication that'll help you.

Denise has been trying a variety of medicines. Nothing's worked.

Sean will try an intravenous antihistamine.

-Just pop your hand up on your tummy there.

-I'll just...

If we can get rid of this irritation for you, I think

you'll be a lot more comfortable.

Right, that's the chlorpheniramine going in, so that's

an antihistamine that you've had now,

hopefully that will make you feel a bit better shortly.

At no point have you felt your throat swelling up, or your tongue?

So far there are no signs of immediate danger.

But with a 600% increase in hospital

admissions for anaphylaxis in the past 20 years,

they need to get Denise to A & E.

It's a 15-minute trip from Ballasalla to hospital in Douglas.

The antihistamine Sean's given her isn't doing the trick.

Do you think that's helped at all?

-Do you feel any different now you've had that medicine?

-No.

At Noble's Hospital in Douglas...

Let's see if we can you sorted out then, eh?

..Denise is handed over to the medics.

This young lady's Denise, you can see the rash now, it's horrendous.

Very irritating.

She had chest tightness yesterday, which subsided on its own.

See you later on, Denise.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

It's probably one of the worst that I've seen for irritation.

She's got blistering all between her arms, inside her legs,

it's all up her back.

How she's coped with it for six days, I don't know.

The hospital's medics will now treat Denise...

While the two Seans continue their final shift together.

He is a good lad.

Very switched on, loads of common sense, just what you

need as a partner, so someone's going to benefit from that now.

Our personalities get on, we don't clash, so I'm going to miss him.

Scaling the heights of Scotland's magnificent mountains is

a risky business.

Weather can change from mild to treacherous in minutes.

Today, two lost walkers on the Isle of Arran have found that out

to their peril.

An hour and a half after being stood down from their search,

HMS Gannet's been called back by the island's Mountain Rescue Team.

Two hours after the initial 999 call,

the walkers have at last been found, near the 2,800ft summit

of Arran's highest peak.

One of the casualties is making her

way off the mountain with MRT support.

But the other's so exhausted and cold,

she's at serious risk of hypothermia if she tries to climb down.

She needs to be airlifted to safety, now.

The jagged granite ridges of Goatfell are encased in cloud.

A casualty's life is in danger.

The air crew face the dense cloud, and make a brave decision.

They're going in.

In a manoeuvre called a hover-taxi, pilot Martin Lannie will creep

the ten-tonne Sea King helicopter sideways, through the heavy

cloud, up the steep contours of the mountain, to the MRT and casualty.

It's high-risk.

There's a high potential of hitting the side of the mountain with the

main rotor disc and a catastrophic failure of the aircraft could occur.

It's a very, very dangerous manoeuvre.

The Sea King is hovering just 15ft above the mountain.

Winchman Gary Kneeshaw and observer Chris Flynn help guide the chopper.

There's no room for banter at all, and no room for error,

so the flow of information from back to front

and vice-versa has to be absolutely precise.

The MRT help direct them from the ground.

The visibility is so poor,

the Sea King's in grave danger of striking the side of the mountain.

Every single sortie we do, as a crew, we work as a team.

The trust that the front seats put in myself as a winchman

down the back, and certainly the winch operator,

is second to none and, you know, the same in the front.

I'm trusting those guys with my life and we all look out for each other.

Near the 2,800ft summit,

they spot the neon glow of the Mountain Rescue Team vehicle.

And, further, people.

With the casualty in sight, Gary winches down.

The casualty's cold, wet and completely exhausted.

Cable two, one, steady, good position, over the survivor.

Kneesh is coming up with her, Kneesh is attached.

-Steady. Happy, Kneesh?

-Yeah.

-Kneesh coming up.

Both attached.

And he's in contact with the aircraft, casualty is outboard.

Kneesh coming up, outside, I've got the casualty,

I'm bringing her onboard.

Number one's onboard, add to visual.

If we weren't there to go and pick her up, she would have become

more tired, she would have become more cold and thereby you risk,

she's run out of energy, or she gets too cold to function properly.

Potentially it could lead to hypothermia.

But it's not over yet.

The crew must stay focused,

and navigate the Sea King out of the cloud, and back down the mountain.

After a tense seven minutes...

..they're out of the danger zone.

The young woman is handed over to a waiting medic near the MRT centre.

It's been an incredible team effort.

It's a good feeling as a crew to know that you've gone out and done

your job, you know, helped somebody off the side of the hill, safely.

The UK has some of the toughest gun-licensing laws in the world,

which the police need to make sure are upheld.

In Herefordshire, PC Sam Davis has joined forces with specially

trained officers on a search warrant for an unlicensed shotgun.

Firearms Sergeant Andy Wardly had a tip off about its location.

The police's lead has come good. Bingo.

Yeah, we've just located a single-barrelled shotgun

concealed in a compartment on that flatbed trailer.

The firearms officer has just tested it,

and in his opinion it's a viable, usable firearm.

We shall seize that now and conduct enquiries as to how it's got there.

Heirloom or not, this chap's got some explaining to do, under arrest.

It was a single-barrel shotgun, very rusty,

looked very old, but at the end of the day it's a shotgun.

If it hasn't got a licence it's got to be taken off the streets, cos

you never know what's going to happen with that shotgun.

It could be turned into something else.

OK, gentleman's in custody, we've got a van on the way.

We've done a cursory search of the caravan,

it is stacked high with a sofa and all manner of things.

Have you got intention of getting your dog out?

-Potentially, Sam...

-There's nothing harmful in there.

Any other dogs in there?

No, no dogs in there, there's nothing that's going to hurt him.

He's telling me there's no ammunition at all for it.

-OK, all right.

-It looks in working order.

Whether or not I'd want to be particularly using that myself,

given the age of it, I don't know, but certainly looks viable,

and on a dark night if that was pointed at me,

obviously that would be quite concerning, to say the least.

With one gun found, Sam and Ade need to search for ammunition

and any other firearms that could be lying around.

Oh, Adrian, anyone would think you've done this before.

Oh, found one.

Not sure if that's viable.

I'll put that on there.

So far, nothing.

But the PCs have their own secret weapon.

PD Pup has two years' experience under her collar,

that's about 20 dog years.

She's trained in a number of disciplines, namely drugs,

firearms and ammunition.

While Pup gets sniffing, the officers get frisking.

Gentleman's obviously in custody.

He's going to be going to Hereford custody.

We'll be following him in, and obviously be interviewed once

the search has been thoroughly completed.

For Sam, Ade and Pup, the search goes on, but it's a huge area.

And they find...nothing.

I think that's probably it from us.

The boys will make the weapon safe, and take a look at it,

identify it and then it'll be disposed of.

Back at base in Hereford, the owner's in custody

and the gun's in Andy's care.

It is very basic, quite old,

quite a state of disrepair, aged and bit corroded, to say the least.

I wouldn't fancy, using it, not particularly,

because it is so old, but in the wrong hands this could be,

and would be, a potential lethal weapon.

In interview the gentleman's basically said that it's a

family heirloom, that it is his shotgun and he inherited it,

effectively, from his father who deceased several years ago.

He's never fired it, never used it, just kept hold of,

for sentimental reasons.

In Britain, it's illegal to own a working gun like this

without a licence, no matter where it's come from.

It's very unlikely that he would ever be able to get a firearms

licence in the future, because he's got previous of a firearms offence.

It's been all go for the emergency services across the British Isles.

Denise spent a week in hospital.

Medics think shower gel or body lotion could have been

the cause of her allergy, but Denise may never know for sure.

She now carries an EpiPen, just in case.

The rescued hill walker in Arran was treated by medics for mild hypothermia.

She doesn't plan on climbing any more mountains.

And because of previous good behaviour,

the shotgun's owner was eligible for a caution.

The gun has been destroyed.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.