Episode 9 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 to 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...

in Country Durham, police join fire

and ambulance crews at a head-on collision.

Lake wardens and animal welfare officers unite to help

a distressed swan in Cumbria.

That one over there by the...

Front one as we're looking now, yeah.

And it's all hands on deck on the Isle of Man to save a badly

injured fisherman.

Ready, steady, back.

Ah! Don't straighten my leg!

Lake Windermere in Cumbria.

10.5 miles of natural fresh water

stretching through the stunning Lake District National Park.

Patrolling its huge expanse

are the South Lakeland District Council's lake wardens.

They look after the safety of lake users, whether people...

Everything OK?

Just a bit choppy today, isn't it?

..or wildlife.

On duty today is Steve Phelps.

It's not a bad office to work in, Windermere.

It's such a special place to be

and we're so privileged to be able to work here.

I've been here now 20 years and I don't see myself going anywhere

before I retire. This is me for life, I think.

Windermere is a magnet for tourists, outdoor enthusiasts and sailors.

But today, Steve's had an unusual request for help.

Gentleman's brought his boat down from Ambleside

in the north end of the lake this morning.

He's found a grey squirrel sat on the top of his mast.

Doesn't want the grey squirrel on the top of his mast

so we'll go and see what we can do with him to try and get rid of it.

Grey squirrels can swim,

but sailor John just wants him off so he can carry on with his trip.

Well, it rained all last night, and I'm 100 yards off shore,

my mooring,

and I woke up and he was pootling around the deck.

Bone dry, even though it had rained all night.

He ran down the boat and tried to get off the anchor at the front.

And when he realised there was water there, he went up there.

And that's where he's stayed.

Steve hopes swinging the boat might encourage the furry fiend down.

His tail's still wrapped round.

HE LAUGHS

But the squirrel stays put.

Next, the long-necked net.

Go on. You can do it, fella. Go on.

Go on, fella.

Good lad.

Yeah, watch him, though...

He's going to be in the cabin.

He'll be up the mast. Just keep your pole with him.

Oi! He's going up...

You keep him away from the mast.

No, no, no, no!

The little grey fella's got one over on Steve.

It's a wild animal and it's scared,

so we're going to let the thing settle down and then, hopefully,

with a bit of luck, we'll give it another go

and we might be able to get him down.

For now, it's back out on lake patrol.

It's a beautiful afternoon and I've just had to escape out here

cos I'm traumatised by the fact that that squirrel beat me!

But soon, nature calls again.

Just heard over the radio that Kath, my colleague

from the National Park Authority, is following a boat at the moment which

has a distressed swan which looks like it's swallowed a fishing hook.

I'll just go across in case Kath, who's on her own, needs any

help to pick the swan up and bring it back to our base.

The swan has been spotted near an island in the lake

called Belle Isle...

about half a mile from Steve's location in Sourpool Wyke.

Problem that you often get is someone will come and report a swan

in distress or a bird in distress

and, unfortunately, there are hundreds of them out here.

Fortunately, a case like this where, allegedly, it's got a fishing

hook entangled, should be fairly easy to establish where it is.

The RSPCA's flat out on other calls today,

so for now Steve's on his own.

Then he comes across the people who reported the swan.

We've got a picture of it.

Thank you.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

-Clearly in distress.

-Yeah.

-We'll go and have a look.

-OK.

-Thank you very much for your help.

-Great service, thanks very much.

-No problem, thanks.

They spotted it about eight minutes ago

somewhere between Belle Isle and the islands known as The Lilies.

As Steve approaches Belle Isle, it looks like he's getting warm.

-Yeah, it's got the fishing lure hanging out.

-Yeah.

Swallowed the rest of it. It went off down that way.

-That way, right, fine.

-Yeah, a few minutes ago.

That's exactly what we're looking for.

There's just one here which isn't going very far,

which might be the one, but we'll have a trip up that lake

shore and see what we can find.

This one doesn't look too happy so we'll go

and have a look at this one.

I think that's it.

There's definitely something hanging out there, look.

Yeah, that's the one.

You see the lure down by its body?

A large fishing lure, or artificial bait, attached to the fishing line

is hanging from the mute swan's beak.

Yeah, found it, Kath.

It could have swallowed the hook.

Every year in Britain, around 3,000 swans

injured by fishing litter are rescued.

Sadly, many don't survive.

Lake ranger Kath usually enforces the law on the lake,

but today she's joining Steve in helping the swan.

They'll try to get close enough to catch it

with a specially-designed swan hook.

Dealing with stressed animals can be difficult.

They don't realise that you're trying to help, you know.

So they can get a little bit feisty.

You're going to have to be fairly ruthless.

It's had enough, I think. It just...

"I'm going to hide."

It's obviously very wary of us now

because it's staying close into the shoreline.

We can't get that close in.

This is what can happen when unscrupulous fishermen

don't play a fair game.

Wildlife suffer.

Fortunately, this swan isn't suffering.

It's swimming freely, it's feeding.

It's a hindrance rather than a danger at the moment.

They want to help,

but catching this swan's going to need the expertise of the RSPCA.

We'll leave it alone.

There's always tomorrow and we'll go looking again.

It's back to base for Steve,

where the squirrel has found a new boat for its home.

The squirrel's safe on top of the mast.

RSPCA said as soon as it gets quiet and dark, he'll be down

and into the trees which are close by.

They say there'll be no harm come to the swan overnight.

They're going to send a crew up tomorrow.

Yeah, good day. I mean, it's different, you know.

A little frustrating that it's two-nil to the wildlife,

but, hey, there's always another day.

Let's see if we can make a draw by the end of tomorrow.

The Isle of Man.

Almost 100 miles of spectacular coastline...

with a rich maritime heritage.

Helping to look after the island's 85,000 residents

is emergency medical technician Shaun Cannon.

In his five years with the ambulance service, he's treated the young...

Just put your head back like that. Let me have a little look.

Oh, yeah. That's good. You hold it there again.

..and the not-so-young.

I'm just going to put that into your ear.

I'm just going to do your temperature.

36.5, that's absolutely perfect.

Today, Shaun's partnering paramedic Janet Cornwald

when they're called to the main hospital's helipad urgently.

The fisherman was 16 miles off the island's south coast

when he sustained a massive blunt-force injury

from a heavy piece of falling equipment.

A coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon, 50 miles away

in Wales, has raced to his aid,

along with a local lifeboat.

He's now being airlifted to Noble's Hospital in Douglas.

A-108. We're on scene, over.

All received. Thank you.

An hour after receiving the call, the coastguard chopper has landed.

Shaun and Janet will take the fisherman to A & E.

Can we get the...

-Yeah, sure.

-Happy?

-Yep.

-That sounds good.

24-year-old John was catching scallops

at the time of the accident.

The heavy blow to his side has caused a massive open wound.

OK.

Search and rescue winchman Rich Taylor

has stemmed the bleeding,

immobilised the pelvis and given Entonox, a pain-relieving gas.

John needs very careful handling.

Now, we've got Entonox here so we need to bring that...

Either bring that with us or...

We'll take it away for now.

It's all right, I've got it.

-If he wants to keep hold of it.

-He doesn't want to keep on it, no.

Normally, if they're that injured they'll be flown direct to the

UK to a major trauma centre.

But on this occasion, the paramedic on the helicopter struggled

to get IV access due to the patient being quite shut down and cold.

Last year, Noble's Hospital received five search and rescue

helicopters carrying casualties from the surrounding seas.

Transport to hospital here is about a minute, all right.

We'll get straight in there and see about getting a doctor,

get some pain relief for you.

Winchman Rich stays with John for the A & E handover.

Just relax, mate. We'll get you in soon.

-Lift your arm.

-Another BP and let's have a look.

It's just tightening up on your arm, mate, OK.

Just keep it as relaxed as you can for us.

Which boat are you on?

Amelia.

I know of it, yeah.

Every year, around 12 fishermen die from accidents at sea in Britain.

At A & E, the trauma team are waiting.

OK, so knocked to the ground.

He sustained a wound, an open wound to his left hip, which just

kind of follows the belt line-ish and is about eight inches.

It does bleed, but I've managed to get a bit of a dressing on there,

but he was in a really awkward spot on his side down the side

of the boat, so nothing's pretty, I'm afraid.

He's in a lot of pain on movement, as well.

OK, when everyone's ready.

We'll go on three.

One, two, three.

It's been an eventful hour and a half for winchman Rich.

The boat was still in the water so I went onto the lifeboat.

We then transferred on the fishing vessel

and the RNLI lads were fantastic,

helping me assess and stabilise this guy, get him into a stretcher.

Difficult transfer across to the lifeboat

and up to the aircraft and quickly whipped him

into hospital, where the team are working on the young lad now.

For a small hospital like Noble's,

an extra pair of hands can be invaluable.

John's injuries are difficult to get to

and potentially life-threatening, so Shaun's asked to stay on.

OK, ready, everybody?

Ready, steady, go.

Well done. You're not going to fall out.

Any pain down here, John?

Shaun helps with a procedure called a log roll, where John is

carefully unwrapped and assessed for injuries on all sides.

-Everybody ready?

-Yep.

Ready, steady, back.

Argh, don't straighten my leg!

All right, all right.

Yeah, what we just need to do is get you off the board

then we'll get you as comfy as we can, OK.

With so many layers of clothing, it

takes time to get to John's injuries.

-Everybody ready?

-Yes.

Ready, steady, lift.

Just taking the board out now, John. Make you more comfortable, OK?

Shaun's seen cases like this before.

I've been part of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution

for the last 15 years,

so I've been to fishermen that are injured and sick, and I do

feel for them because it is a very, very dangerous job that they're in.

Accidents do occur. So, yeah, I did feel for him.

Doctor Faisal Khan must build up a complete picture of John's injuries.

His pulse, blood pressure is holding on.

He's conscious, he's talking to us.

He's waiting at the moment to be going for CT scan of his chest,

abdomen and pelvis, and afterwards, he is going to operation theatre.

After X-ray, Shaun hears the fisherman will be flown

to a major trauma centre at Liverpool's Aintree Hospital.

The X-ray reveals why.

We're just looking at the patient from the fishing boat X-ray,

and he's got quite a serious fracture of his pelvis.

So I think that's why they're contemplating getting him

flown to Aintree to the major trauma centre.

John's twisted, fractured pelvis

needs specialist care on the mainland.

His pelvic injury was substantial,

so I think that's going to take a lot of rehabilitation.

Whether he'll ever walk properly again, I don't know.

The surgeries they do now are fantastic so,

fingers crossed, he'll make a full recovery.

At Lake Windermere in Cumbria...

lake warden Steve Phelps is back on duty.

Right, well, it's a new day today.

A new morning, lovely morning again and the good news is that

yesterday's squirrel has disappeared.

He's probably in these trees here to our left,

so we've redeemed ourselves.

So it's 2-1 to the wildlife

and let's hope we can get the swan and make it a draw.

Today, the RSPCA are joining the swan rescue.

Steve Phelps, lake warden. How do you do?

-Rob Malloy, RSPCA.

-Good on you, Rob.

It's on a beach where, traditionally, people feed them.

So it's in a place where it's probably happy

and they do get quite far out of the water.

They've heard the swan's moved east from Belle Isle to Bowness Bay,

a bustling tourist hotspot and marina.

They hatch a plan.

Animal welfare officer Nick Green will join Steve on his boat

and approach the swan from the water...

while his colleagues drive to Bowness Bay to help from the land.

Last summer, the number of swans admitted to the RSPCA's

Wildlife Centre because of fishing tackle more than tripled.

It's an absolute nightmare.

I mean, we used to find a lot of the time, it was

sort of kids leaving the line,

but it can be anyone now and it's just...

It is a major problem, you know, not only for our resources,

but, more importantly, you know, the animals are getting tied up

and it's all sorts. You know, gulls, you name it.

Simple steps like taking unwanted fishing line home

and cutting it into tiny pieces before binning

can help avoid wildlife suffering.

We've got two RSPCA officers on shoreline.

We've got Nick with us, who's an RSPCA officer

who's got his dry suit on and a couple of swan hooks.

We're hoping we're going to be able to find it

and then deal with the problem.

We'll give it our best shot, that's all we can say.

Nick gets an update from his colleagues on shore

who've spotted the swan.

Within five minutes, they arrive.

And it's not too long before they find their swan.

He's going to be under that pier before I get anywhere near him.

If the swan goes under the pier, it's not going to make things easy.

It's pretty shallow.

Eagle-eyed Steve spots the swan on the other side of the pier.

That one over there by the...

Front one as we're looking now, yeah.

So Nick prepares to swoop in.

It gets shallow in here.

But not just yet.

Just going to get out in the water.

Right, go.

It's swan-demonium.

But with some expert handling,

it's nabbed.

RSPCA Chief Inspector Rob Malloy has met them from the land.

He tries to gently remove the fishing line...

but it's firmly lodged.

There's a danger the swan has swallowed the hook.

This beautiful bird needs a vet.

Unfortunately, the line is quite far down. I've had a quick look now.

Sometimes you can actually pull the line out very slowly.

The worrying thing is, obviously, it's a hook at the other end

so, obviously, we don't want to start pulling it out

because the hook's going to catch on it.

So, quite a big lure on it, quite heavy.

We're going to put it straight in the van,

go straight up to the vet's.

We'll know a little bit more once the vet's had a look.

May have to X-ray just see if there's anything there.

He may just be able to pull it out very slowly.

It helps that we've a good boat and a good driver, as well.

Fishing line is an absolute nightmare,

you know, for the animals, especially swans.

I would say I probably deal with about three or four a week.

On a busy that can be up to, you know, ten-plus.

It's just asking people to be responsible, really.

Taking the line, you know, picking it up after them.

Today's rescue has gone well.

I just think it's a wonderful end to a couple of days' hard work.

It just shows how inter-team cooperation really does work.

So I'm going to retire now, and as far as I'm concerned,

it's two to the wildlife and two to Steve,

with a little bit of help from the RSPCA. Thanks very much.

But for the swan, it's not over.

If it has swallowed the fishing hook, it may not survive.

From wardens in the wilds...

to police on country roads...

when it comes to saving lives, teamwork can be crucial.

In Consett, County Durham,

police officer of two years David Taylor

knows just how important that is.

Today, David's racing to a serious road traffic collision,

or RTC, involving two cars.

The collision's happened near Consett

on the A691, a main arterial road.

Over 1,700 people are killed on Britain's roads every year...

60% on country roads.

In less than five minutes, David arrives.

The drivers of the two cars are the only people involved.

Fire, ambulance and police are all on-scene.

A police officer at the scene updates David.

-Scott's blocking off the roundabout there.

-Right.

Going to get PCSO down to block the roundabout down here,

-sorry, the turning here.

-Yeah.

So should be all right once we get those two vehicles in place.

Right, OK.

We've got the road blocked off at both sides.

Obviously, the traffic's blocked

off by the vehicles and also our vehicles.

So we're just getting other units down just to make sure

that vehicles are turned round, so there's no traffic congestion.

Using a powerful hydraulic tool known as the Jaws Of Life,

firefighters take the roof off the silver car

to reach the trapped driver.

At times like these, the combined forces of police,

fire and ambulance can make all the difference to a casualty's outcome.

David has been trying to find witnesses

whilst staying across the situation.

We've blocked the roads off both sides.

We're also trying to conduct our enquiries, as well, with people at

buildings nearby to see whether anyone's seen anything.

PC Donna Hicks and a colleague

came across the collision soon after it happened.

In the red car is 62-year-old Margaret.

The person in the other red car's suffering from neck injuries.

We're going to have to try and get them out of that vehicle, as well.

May need the roof taken off that car, as well,

if they can't be moved.

The first driver has been taken away, but Margaret is still

trapped and has severe pain in her neck, leg and back.

Firemen have covered Margaret with a protective sheet

and are carefully removing the roof of the car.

The roof's had to be removed from the vehicle cos it looked like

she's got a spinal injury.

They're going to be taken out, probably on a spinal board,

and put in the ambulance and then taken away from the scene.

With the roof now off, it's clear Margaret needs pain relief

before they can attempt to move her.

It looks like her injuries are serious.

Sometimes it can be a bit more dangerous if someone isn't

exhibiting any outward signs because

you don't know what level of injury they've got.

So, I would imagine that the fire brigade and the ambulance service

are going to be extra, extra careful with her.

Margaret's in a critical state.

-Guys, can we get the board horizontal?

-Just press there, lad.

She needs to get to A & E.

SIREN WAILS

The breathtaking Lake District National Park in Cumbria.

We love it.

And the wildlife does, too.

But sometimes our two worlds collide.

At Windermere, lake wardens and the RSPCA have rescued a swan

that's swallowed a fishing line.

Animal welfare officer Will Lamping has taken the swan

ten miles to Kendal, and to local vet Jennifer Harris.

Thank you, come on in.

Will is worried the swan may have swallowed a fishing hook.

If you could pop him on here, that would be great, thanks, Will.

IT HISSES

If Jennifer can see the hook,

she might be able to remove it straightaway.

But it's not looking good.

Yeah, it does look like it's gone quite far down.

All I can see at the moment is the nylon fishing wire.

Yeah, I think it's gone down into the oesophagus.

We can certainly anesthetise and X-ray

and see what we're doing from there.

It's a nylon fishing wire.

And it's got quite a bit of tension on it.

Let me get you some drugs, little man.

To minimise the swan's distress,

it needs to be anesthetised before X-ray.

How does he feel at your end, Debbie? Feel a bit loose?

OK.

Just leave that there for a sec and have a look at his head.

If a hook shows up on the X-ray,

a pair of scissors will act as a reference point for Jennifer.

Just put a little marker mid-neck.

OK.

So we can see the nylon fishing line.

We're just trying to look to see where the hook will have gone.

Maybe we'll take another X-ray further down, I think.

Fishing line, hooks and weights can all cause internal injury

and poisoning.

Jennifer opts for two more X-rays in case there's a hook further down.

First, its neck...

and then its stomach.

Can't see anything down here at all.

In the gizzard.

I'm pretty sure we haven't missed anywhere.

It's decision time.

It's a really difficult one cos we fully expected to be able to

identify a hook, if not in the mouth, definitely radiographically.

Looks like the nylon line is still going down, so there's a potential

that that could then get stuck,

so we're going to snip the nylon line that we've got,

so at least we can detach a lot of the fishing tackle.

Essentially, let the bit of nylon line keep

going down the oesophagus and keep him in and monitor him

just to see what happens from there.

Finally, the swan can be cut loose from the heavy fishing lure.

I'm going to snip it as far down as I possibly can.

OK.

That's it.

Even if... You all right there, Will?

As it wakes up, it's moved to its own private ward.

OK. Thanks, Will.

OK, we'll keep an eye on him as he becomes a bit more conscious.

Best-case scenario, he's a good recovery from his anaesthetic

and his X-rays.

We'll monitor him for a few days,

make sure he's eating as well as our other swan in-patient

and following two or three days of monitoring,

we'll see if he can be released back in his own environment.

A week later, Will returns to the vet.

-Morning.

-Morning, Will. How are you?

So he's ready to go, then, this one?

Yeah, he's doing really well. He's been eating very well.

Once he got the stress over from the anaesthetic.

So he's good to be back to be released into Windermere.

-Thank you.

-Fantastic. Did he pass the line in the end?

No, nothing passed at the moment

so there could be something circulating in there,

but he's been passing motions and eating really ravenously,

so we're happy for him to go.

-Very feisty.

-No problems.

-OK.

SWAN HISSES

The swan's back to its plucky self.

It's OK. If you could just help with the doors, that would be great.

He is a little bit grumpy. We'll have him away quick.

And back at Lake Windermere, Will's found the perfect release spot.

So we've just come back to Lake Windermere now and just down back

on the warden's office, so we can pop him just somewhere he knows and

he's used to and, possibly, the wardens can just

keep an eye on him, as well, just in case

he wants to get into any bother.

He's got his energy back and, yeah, should give him a good chance.

It's really nice to see, you know.

It's rewarding when you can see them go back and go back

to the environment that they belong in. Yeah, it's a good feeling.

Over water and on land, our rescue services pull together

when it matters most.

90 miles away from Windermere, in Country Durham,

PC David Taylor has been attending a serious two-car collision,

alongside fire and ambulance.

Three people die on rural roads every day in accidents like this.

Driver Margaret is so badly injured

she's been carefully removed from her car and taken to A & E.

I think anyone who says that it doesn't affect them in any way

would be lying, to be honest.

I think, deep down, any kind of incident when someone's got hurt,

we've all got emotions and we've all got families.

So it's never nice seeing people injured,

but, I think, when you attend something like this,

the job just takes over and you just focus on what

needs to be done. The casualties, what needs to be done at the scene.

It's up to PC Nigel Craig, from the Collision Investigation Unit,

to get to the bottom of what happened.

We're on a main arterial road here

with a speed limit of 60 miles per hour,

which is an area where you're going to get

higher speeds of contact between the vehicles.

We'll start to collect all evidential data that we can.

It's classified as a serious road traffic accident

at the moment in time

because of the nature of the collision and the injuries that we're talking about.

Margaret was so badly hurt,

medics told relatives she had only a 50-50 chance of survival.

Three-and-a-half months after the accident,

Margaret's back home, at last.

The day of the accident I'd been, with some friends,

to a garden centre for lunch and I was on my way home.

Erm, it was about half past two, in the afternoon.

I was about five minutes from home when the accident happened,

but I didn't have any knowledge of, you know, being

approached by another car, at the time.

I don't remember anything about that.

I remember talking to a woman and she was telling me,

not to move, cos my leg and back were, were quite painful.

I remember my nephew coming after that,

and he told me that they were going to take the roof off the car

and it would be noisy and, you know, everything would be OK

once they got me out, and that's the last thing I remember.

Margaret didn't have any external injuries,

but internally, it was a different matter.

I had a broken foot.

I had broken ribs.

Erm, a fractured pelvis.

Lacerated liver.

And, because of the impact of the other vehicle,

where it hit me on the passenger side,

my internal organs sort of shifted

and I had to have an abdominal wall repair

and mesh inside to keep my organs, erm, where they should be.

And having, again, the tracheotomy was

another ordeal on top of that.

Margaret spent two-and-a-half weeks in intensive care,

and over two months in hospital,

where she had a series of operations and intensive rehab.

The whole thing made me think,

you've just got to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,

and in that split second, your whole life changes completely.

From being an active person who could do what I wanted,

when I wanted, to being somebody who relied on an awful lot of people.

Margaret's resilience and the care

and support she received throughout

have been a huge help.

Yes, it's been an awful ordeal,

but I've come through it at the end, and in a way it's shown me myself

what sort of person I am, and how, how strong, you know,

and other people view me like that and they say you are strong you will

get through this, and it's taken this

for me to realise yeah, I am.

I am strong, and I will get through this.

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

Fisherman John was in hospital for two weeks,

where he had surgery on his pelvic fracture.

He was in a wheelchair and on crutches for eight weeks,

but is now walking again.

For the moment, though, he's staying on dry land.

Steve and the RSPCA continue to help wildlife on Lake Windermere.

But discarded fishing tackle remains a problem.

And ten months after her accident,

Margaret is still having regular physio, but she's feeling

stronger than ever, and is now back driving her car.

And you thought it was quiet in the countryside.