Episode 20 Real Rescues

Today - dashed against rocks and at the mercy of the high seas.

The fate of 14 fishermen lies with the skills

of a coastguard helicopter crew.

A bank holiday weekend ends in disaster.

A scooter rider comes off, slides face first along the tarmac.

We need you to keep very, very still, OK?

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues.

Today we're in the ambulance control centre near Winchester in Hampshire.

The first ever 999 call was made in London back in 1937

at the start of the brand new emergency service.

There's dispute over who made it first, but it must have been

needed as they took 1,300 calls in the first week.

Yes, and now places like this can take up to 1,300 calls a day.

Exactly. Do you want to find out what's coming in today?

Let's go and have a chat. Let's see, it was Anna I was going to talk to first this morning.

-Hello?

-Hello.

-What's going on at the moment?

We've just had a call from a young boy

who is in the car with his mum on the motorway.

They've had to pull over to the hard shoulder,

as his mum's experiencing chest pains.

He's stayed very calm.

He's been able to tell us which direction he was travelling in.

It's taken us a while to locate them.

-Yeah, I'm sure.

-The motorway's rather a big place.

I think adults find it difficult to explain,

so he's obviously done a fantastic job.

Yeah, he's stayed really calm.

When his mum was feeling a little bit better she managed to tell us

-which junction they were at.

-And what have you sent out?

-We've managed to send an RRV and an ambulance, who are on scene at the moment.

-On scene at the moment?

Smashing. That's what's going on in here at the moment.

We'll try and let you know how that develops

during the course of this morning.

Now, the seas off the north-west coast of Scotland are some of

the most busy and treacherous waters around the British Isles.

We're about to see what happened when one trawler

was smashed onto the rocks in a raging storm.

The rescue was an extraordinary feat of precise flying in the

worst conditions by a coastguard helicopter.

Louise has been to the Outer Hebrides, where it all happened.

This is the coastguard station in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.

The flying conditions here are the worst in the UK, with winds of up

to 60 knots - or 70 mph - coming straight in from the Atlantic.

We're about to see how the crew work in those extremes,

in, arguably, their toughest rescue to date.

The seas off St Kilda, the most remote part of the British Isles,

40 miles north-west of the Outer Hebrides.

Fishing boats are taking refuge here.

A force nine gale is blowing and the waves are as high as 40 feet.

Rescue helicopter one-zero-zero has been called to the scene.

These pictures were recorded by the infra-red camera.

One trawler, The Spinningdale, has run into deep trouble.

It's been smashed onto rocks.

14 Spanish fishermen are on board.

Massive waves are swamping the decks

and their lives are in danger.

Three hours earlier, skipper Manuel Canibe

handed over control of the boat to grab some sleep.

TRANSLATION: That night I went to bed at three.

The second watch stayed on the bridge.

At five in the morning the engine broke down

and the wind pushed us against the rocks.

We heard a big blow.

Everything shook.

I never had experienced anything like it.

Now, firmly pinned to the rocks by the pounding waves, Manuel

and his crew attempted to fix the mechanical problem.

We managed to start the main engine again and we tried to move the boat, but it didn't work.

It was then I sent a mayday signal.

Manuel's distress call was picked up by the coastguard at Stornoway.

At 5.25 in the morning we got the call here in Stornoway that a vessel

had gone aground out in St Kilda,

to the west of the Western Isles.

They need to be rescued immediately.

It was quite horrendous conditions.

Rescue helicopter one-zero-zero was immediately scrambled.

Pilot Captain, Liz Forsyth, was facing one of her toughest jobs.

You're running through your mind what you're going to find when you

get there, how you're going to carry out the rescue,

what the conditions are going to be like there.

I'd not been to St Kilda before.

But it was in my mind from one of the other captains, saying

what an awful place it could be in strong, turbulent winds.

So I was working out how to keep us safe.

It's a half-hour flight from the Isle of Lewis.

Conditions are appalling.

Liz is flying by her instruments alone. Outside it's pitch black.

Winchman, Phil Warrington, searches for The Spinningdale on the infra-red camera.

You've got a big slab on the nose, which is at about 0.6 of a mile.

Your escape will be right on to zero-eight-zero.

Phil can see fishing boats trying to find shelter.

But Liz has to edge the aircraft close

to the cliffs to catch a sight of the stricken Spinningdale trawler.

There he is. He's tucked right into the corner.

Manuel and his crew have been on the rocks for over two hours.

They have little shelter.

The doors of the bridge have been ripped off by the wind.

Water is pouring in.

They are all at risk of hypothermia.

TRANSLATION: We needed to get out of there

because everybody was very nervous.

We were all nervous. We wanted to get out as soon as possible.

We were wearing the lifejackets, but if we'd jumped in the water

or launched the lifeboats we'd have been slammed against the rocks.

The sea was breaking against the rocks with great force.

The trawler could break up at any time.

But it's too close to the cliff for Liz and her team

to attempt a rescue in the dark.

The changing wind is throwing the aircraft up and down.

Attempting a winch in total darkness

would put the lives of the rescue crew in danger as well.

We do train to get into land conditions in pitch black.

However, the conditions were so severe that we weren't able

to actually manoeuvre in at a very slow speed that would be required

if we were flying on instruments and radar.

So, as we knew that the sun was shortly coming up, we decided to

hold off for about 20 minutes to get just a very...

You only need a very small amount of light, just to be able to get

a contrast with the land and be able to see where you're going.

It's difficult saying, "Well, we'll just wait 10 minutes."

Because you think, "Well, what if that was the 10 minutes that the boat rolled over?"

At the same time, I knew that,

potentially, we would end up crashing the aircraft.

But the sound of the helicopter alone

provides a glimmer of hope for Manuel and his crew.

TRANSLATION: We knew they were there and they were going to do

everything they possibly could to rescue us. It was very relieving.

The helicopter crew have to wait 20 long minutes for daylight,

all the time using fuel needed for the hover and the return home.

Rescue one-zero-zero is approaching the bay.

The time has come, the rescue can begin.

He's literally just round the corner.

There's waves going right over at the moment.

Captain Liz will be tested to the limit.

Winchman, Phil, will have just 25 minutes

to get down to the boat and winch off 14 terrified men.

Manuel has lit a flare.

Immediately they see a massive wave envelop the trawler.

Somehow, Phil has to find a foothold on the deck

as it pitches violently and the waves crash over.

It's incredibly dangerous and it's hard to imagine a

more difficult rescue, even with a highly skilled coastguard crew.

I'll be meeting the UK's first and only female pilot,

Captain Liz Forsyth, a little bit later to see how they pulled it off.

August bank holiday,

when it seems the whole world heads out for one last taste of summer,

including thousands of enthusiasts making their way

to the Isle of Wight Scooter Festival.

But some of them don't have such a smooth ride.

Emergency care practitioner, Mark Ainsworth-Smith,

has just been called to a crash on the M3.

Obviously the potential on any motorway is always significant.

So we'll be pushing up towards this job

and trying to get there as quickly as we can.

But getting anywhere fast today is really difficult.

Mark's having to drive along the hard shoulder.

You're seeing the traffic ahead is slowing almost to nothing now.

Again, real caution.

There's two sets of sirens.

For people driving their cars, it's actually very difficult

for them to differentiate between an ambulance in a car.

So we're just up behind this ambulance,

but really driving very cautiously, indeed.

Mark finds 45-year-old Graham Chapman lying flat out in the road

after coming off his Vespa.

Thankfully he's conscious and breathing.

Emergency care assistant, James Cooper,

is already there with the ambulance.

They need to get Graham's helmet and mask off

to see if he's injured his head.

But they don't yet know if he has any spinal damage, so it's vital

he keeps his head and neck as straight as possible.

We need you to keep very, very still, OK?

Are you happy to support the chin?

-Does it normally come off fairly easily?

-Yeah.

Does it? OK, that's great.

All right. If we can get hold, what we can do is just gently tease.

-All right?

-Yeah.

We're just going to just gently... Just keep your head still.

-Definitely no pain in your neck at all?

-No.

Good man, that's great. Do you still have control?

-Yeah, I've got it.

-Good man.

Lovely, we're off there. Bit of damage to the front of it.

They quickly get him on to oxygen.

Just going to pop that on there as well.

We apply oxygen to any patient where we suspect major trauma.

This gentleman had come off his motorcycle at

probably 60 miles an hour, possibly slightly more than that.

Because of that, we suspected that he may have significant injuries.

Lack of oxygen could cause serious damage to his major organs.

We obviously have cells that carry oxygen around the body.

If those cells are depleted, for example if somebody's bleeding,

then they need all the help they can get from supplemental oxygen.

Because of the risk of spinal injuries

they need to immobilise Graham.

So, this collar's just going to go round your neck, OK,

and keep it completely still.

Mark continues with all his checks.

Brilliant, OK. Airway's OK, breathing's OK.

Circulation, let's pop a little line in.

Sorry, mate. I know this t-shirt was sentimental.

Graham's complaining of excruciating pain in his right shoulder.

Are you able to feel that arm all right?

The right arm, yeah.

'It was very obvious, from the amount of pain he had, that he either'

had a fracture or a dislocation, or possibly both,

affecting that right shoulder.

There are very, very vital nerves and blood vessels

which run through the armpit.

There's a very serious risk with motorcyclists that they can actually disrupt these

and cause permanent and very severe injury to themselves.

So, for the moment, they're going to leave Graham's arm extended.

What we're going to do is get your pain under control first of all.

We're going to give you some morphine.

That will get rid of the pain.

Then what we can do is start thinking about moving around, OK?

And getting you on to a special spinal board.

The morphine should act quickly to relieve Graham's pain.

This is pretty pokey stuff.

Most patients feel that they feel quite warm all over.

Sometimes it starts off in your feet and then works its way up, all right?

Sometimes people say that's how it feels.

How's your pain now?

If it was ten out of ten, the most severe, how bad is now out of ten?

-Six.

-Six? OK. Do you want some more morphine before we move it?

We can give you a bit more if you want it.

-Erm... No, I think that's fine.

-You think you're OK? All right.

We'll obviously try and avoid twisting you at all.

Mark supports Graham's injured arm

whilst he's rolled on to the scoop stretcher.

Ready to roll. Roll.

-Ouch. Ow, ow, ow.

-Well done, well done.

That's it, good lad.

Ready to go back. Ready to roll. Roll.

Well done, mate. That's the worst bit, all right?

Ready, steady, lift.

-Ahh!

-All right, well done, lovey.

Ahhhhh.

-There you go, mate.

-Well done.

With Graham securely strapped on to the stretcher,

and the pain relief beginning to kick in,

they can gently move his arm.

This was only after we'd established that there was

no neurovascular problems, no problem with his

blood supply or with the nerves in that arm.

Once his arm was returned to the normal position, he actually felt a lot more comfortable.

We'll see how Graham got on a little later in the programme.

Still to come on Real Rescues - battling the elements.

14 sailors are stranded as their trawler crashes into rocks.

A storm is raging, a gale is blowing at force nine

and the coastguard helicopter has only 30 minutes

to get the men off deck.

Precision flying and the expert skills of the winchmen

are the sailors' only chance.

And a man's collapsed in a Peak District blizzard.

It's so treacherous, the only way to get him out is on foot.

Looks like conditions are starting to get a bit worse now.

It's really slow going.

So we'll just have to see how we go.

-But first, another call?

-Yes, let's talk to Lauran.

I was talking to her a little bit earlier about something was going on

in a shopping area.

-Lauran, are you OK to talk?

-Yeah.

Somebody has trapped their hand in an escalator, tell me about the call.

Well, the call came in in a shopping centre

where it'd actually transpired that a young child had caught their hand

and had actually trapped it in the bottom of an escalator.

Which is very alarming, so you've sent somebody out there.

-Yeah.

-And how's it going?

Well, so far, the fire brigade have arrived,

all the machinery has been switched off and it's just a case

of advising the patient to not move or getting whoever is looking

after the patient to not move until they can do something about it.

Presumably they're going to try and treat them on the scene, are they?

Yes, yes, if possible.

Good stuff, Lauran. We'll try and get an update on that a little bit later. Thank you very much.

Back now to the crew of rescue helicopter 100 as they try to rescue

14 fishermen from a stricken trawler in the most remote part of the British Isles.

Louise takes up the story from Stornoway where the crew is based.

I'm in the cockpit of the coastguard helicopter and with me is the pilot,

Liz Forsyth who was involved in that incredible rescue.

Take us back. What greeted you when you got there? What could you see?

We could see absolutely nothing outside of the window, it was pitch black.

All we were flying on was the instruments

and we had our radar screen up here, which would show us

where the land is, but we could see nothing.

And there were very fast winds and snow as well.

How was that affecting the way that you were flying?

The wind was changing direction, it was flowing up the cliff with

the up-drafting air, which means very low power on the helicopter.

Then it would change direction and flow down the cliff, down-drafting,

which means we're using almost up to the full power of the helicopter.

So your priority is to keep the helicopter as steady as you can, is it?

Yeah, I need to keep the helicopter steady at the same height

and position so that the winchman can be kept safe down on the deck.

You mention the winchman, let's go and meet him. He's back here.

That's Phil, who was just about to be winched out of the helicopter, and Larry who's the winch operator.

-Hello, both. How are you?

-Hi.

-Hi.

Phil, just describe to us how you saw those conditions, what did you think of them?

I could see them on the infrared camera,

you could pick out the ships bobbing up and down

in the conditions there,

but normally you can make out the coastline, but with the conditions

that night with the up draft and down-drafting, it was a white spray all the way round.

Larry, you were on winch control, what was it like for you?

Because you're kind of the eyes and ears and the communication

between the two of them, what did you think of it?

Yeah, I'm there to basically keep Phil safe throughout the sortie

and obviously keep the aircraft safe.

Therefore, I'm telling Liz what's going on below the aircraft,

what's happening, how close we are to the rocks,

if any rocks are there, how close we are to any cliff faces.

and basically just keeping her informed of what's going on underneath the aircraft.

Were they the worst you've seen, those conditions?

The worst cases I've seen, without a doubt.

You mentioned talking to them both, it's called the comm, or commentary,

and we've got a copy of the actual audio from the rescue. Let's see what happened next.

The 14 Spanish fishermen are crouched together in the bridge

of the boat as the helicopter prepares to hover for the winch.

The height of the waves and the force of the down drafts

mean Liz has to guard against the aircraft being pushed down into the sea.

To prevent this happening, Larry will have to winch Phil down from a height of 150 feet.

He'll have to land on a wet deck, sloping at 45 degrees.

First, Larry lowers down a line to the crew on the boat.

This will help them to haul Phil in and make it

quicker for him to repeatedly grab the winch wire when he's on deck.

The boat is now directly beneath the helicopter and out of sight

of the camera but we can still hear Larry's running commentary.

He's giving very precise instructions to Liz as she fights the strong winds.

Spanish skipper Manuel knows the process and ventures out onto the angled deck to grab the line.

TRANSLATION: The waves were hitting the boat with great force,

so it was dangerous to get out.

But someone needed to go and take the line.

Manuel has got hold of the line,

so it's time to lower Phil out into the violent conditions.

Manuel and his crew help by pulling Phil in towards them.

TRANSLATION: The wind was moving him quite a lot

and he even hit the boat sometimes

before I could help him get into the boat.

Now he's down, Phil can still hear Larry in his headphones

and is warned to brace himself against the constant pounding of the sea.

From those pictures, Phil, it looks like something out of a disaster movie.

What was it like on that deck? Just describe to us what was going on.

The deck was getting washed over with the waves across the back.

I put my arm through the railings on the port side,

just my left arm, just to steady me because every now and then it would

go right across to starboard.

-Yeah.

-About 45 degrees.

If you're not holding on, you slip across the deck

and have the chance of going over the side.

Larry, you were really crucial in all this because every time a wave

came in, you were talking to him, weren't you, warning him?

Yeah, because of the comm system we've got, I can see what's going on below the aircraft.

And every time a wave was coming in, I'm just shouting, "Phil, hang on."

That means I'm just concentrating on what I'm doing.

I can keep my back to the waves and make sure the guys are getting in

the strops properly, and getting over the side of the boat.

-Were they quite calm?

-Yes, they were.

I had a quick chat with the skipper about what I needed from him just to help me out to speed things up.

He just got on with it and he was a great help down there.

And, Liz, time was really of the essence here, wasn't it?

Are you timing how long this is taking?

We know what fuel, we call it a chicken fuel, that's the fuel we have to leave with

and we can work out from there how much time we'll have available on scene to carry out the rescue.

OK, let's see what happened next then.

Struggling to keep their footing on the slippery deck, Phil and Manuel

work together to get the first two crew members into rescue strops ready to be winched up.

TRANSLATION: We started getting people out of the boat.

First the injured man and the oldest man of the crew.

Pilot Liz battles the high winds to keep the helicopter steady

as Larry waits for the right moment to winch the first two up.

Larry pulls the first two fishermen on board.

The team now have to repeat the whole dangerous process a further seven times.

TRANSLATION: The last person getting out of the boat was actually Phil.

I was the last one of the crew, but Phil was the last one in the boat.

Now, alone on the boat, a tiring Phil hangs on to the railings.

He's getting increasingly buffeted by the heavy waves as the tide comes in.

With no time to lose, Liz brings the helicopter in for the final time.

With everyone accounted for, they can now head back to the safety

of their base in Stornoway,

leaving the Spinningdale behind to its fate in the stormy seas.

It's been a dangerous but very successful rescue.

TRANSLATION: They saved us,

I have an immense feeling of gratitude towards them

and, well, the only words to describe it, they saved our lives.

Amazing rescue, amazing that you were able to do all of that.

Liz, we can hear you on the tape asking about Phil.

Were you quite worried about him?

Yeah, I was worried he might have got injured when he was down there.

I always like to check that everybody's OK after a tricky rescue.

And, Phil, were you badly injured or not?

No, not at all. Just a few bruises.

-Is that normal for the job?

-Yeah, that's normal.

You see, you're so cool, calm and collected

but it's an incredible job you do. Do you not get nervous about it?

No, because you're well trained for it so it just becomes a natural thing to do.

Like driving a car or any other job.

That moment when you've got all 14 off, you must feel an immense sense of relief, do you?

Yes, it just means I've got myself to look after, no-one else then.

-Which makes it a bit easier.

-Yeah, very easy.

Larry, there you are, you've got 14 extra people on board this helicopter. How are they doing?

Apart from a little bit of hypothermia, feeling cold

and a bit miserable, they were fine.

Your job doesn't end when they're on board, because

you'd have to check them over, make sure they're all OK.

Yeah, Phil's a paramedic but I do help him and we just check that

everybody's OK, one broken finger I think there was but that was it.

What did they want, a cup of coffee or something hot to drink, Phil?

They just want to get home!

I know you've been given an award and I know you're immensely modest

about the work that you do. Does that at least make you feel proud?

It makes me feel proud of the rescue but, really, it's for the whole crew.

-Or it should be.

-Yeah, but I guess you're all taking your lives in your own hands at this point, aren't you?

You are but we're in the relative safety of the helicopter,

-not out on a deck that may be about to sink or roll over.

-Mm-hm.

I know that they were Spanish, did they at least say gracias to you, what did they say at the end?

-"Cheers."

-"Cheers," did they?

Thank you very much for talking to us, it's been amazing

watching your work and how cool, calm and collected you all are.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Now, let's get back to Graham whose bank holiday

is not going as planned. A weekend away to a scooter festival

has been ruined after he crashed and now he's in an ambulance heading for A & E.

Graham has some serious medical history.

I know you said you'd had previous brain surgery, did they actually open, did they do a craniotomy?

-No.

-OK.

-They did a...

There was fluid round the brain.

-OK, encephalitis?

-Yeah.

-OK.

Graham's protective clothing has saved him from far more serious injury.

The steel toecaps in his shoes have been worn down to the metal where he skidded to a halt.

When he came off his motorbike, he slid on his front and you can see

there's some damage to the front of his crash helmet,

but also to the front of his clothing.

Not only did he have a very decent crash helmet on, he had a very thick top and trousers as well.

Had he, God forbid, been in shorts, what we'd have noticed is that

he'd have done some terrible damage to himself.

It would have been a catastrophe, this, but that's really saved the day, hasn't it?

-You see so many motorcyclists riding about in shorts and T-shirts and it makes you realise.

-Yeah.

Mind you, I'm not the best person to say that, I used to do the same myself.

Once inside A & E, Mark hands over to Dr Chris Hillman.

He was going about 60 miles an hour and for some reason, locked up his back wheel.

-There's about 65 yards of skid marks, so it's quite significant.

-OK.

He came off and was seen to land on his face

and his right shoulder, but he was wearing a crash helmet.

His obvious injury is his right shoulder, there's no obvious marks

or anything, but it was ten out of ten pain in the right shoulder.

Chris needs to give Graham a thorough check-over.

Ignore the fact you're being undressed.

OK, and let me know if you're in any pain whatsoever.

No tenderness? No?

Don't move your head, that's it, don't move your head.

I know, it's bad. That's all OK, no pain whatsoever?

-No.

-Good man. Ready, set, roll.

Well done, Graham.

OK, any particular pain here?

-No.

-Here?

-No.

-Here?

-No.

It's his shoulder which is giving most cause for concern, but as well

as that, Graham will need X-rays on his neck, chest and knee to assess the full extent of his injuries.

Well, Graham had quite a battering and he broke his shoulder in three places and fractured his leg

but when we spoke to him he said, like most riders of two-wheeled vehicles,

he can't wait to get back in the saddle. Louise.

Mike had a call about somebody who had an accident with a lawnmower recently, didn't you?

-What had he done, this guy?

-Yeah, this gentleman was mowing the lawn

and as he was doing it, went over his foot and cut deeply into his toe.

-Right.

-So we gave him the normal instructions of how to control the bleeding.

-Which is?

Get a clean, dry, cloth or towel, put it over the wound and apply pressure.

-Now that's very important, to apply the pressure.

-OK.

But what a lot of people do after that is they take the cloth away.

Because it's full of blood, they think I need a clean cloth?

Yeah, don't take the cloth off, just put another one on top of it but keep the pressure constant.

That's the thing in that injury.

-Do you find that people go, gosh, I must get a clean cloth?

-Yeah.

-And then of course you take the cloth off...

-And then all the blood starts coming out again.

OK, also, when you say put the pressure on, doesn't that make it hurt even more than it does?

It may do but you'd rather keep your toe and have a little bit of pain.

-Yep. Was he OK, is he still all right?

-Yeah, he's fine. Doing OK.

-Brilliant, thank you very much.

-Glad to hear it!

-Not a problem.

Now then, as the nights get darker and the weather gets colder

this room inevitably gets busier.

In winter more people complain of breathing problems, chest pains,

and harsh winters also bring an increase in road traffic accidents.

Snow, in particular, can bring the country to a standstill.

Pushing emergency services to the absolute limit.

I have come to talk to Lesley who is the control duty manager.

We're up in the important bit over here.

We don't get the chance to chat very often.

How much has it increased by, your workload? Say, for example, when you get real blizzard conditions?

Probably about four times as many calls as normal.

Four times as many calls? Presumably under those circumstances

it is difficult to get your people into work, as hard as it is to get anyone else into work?

The last time we had snow, we hired 4x4s.

That was to get the staff in and also to get them home and also to get to patients on some occasions.

You always wonder about that - how does the snowplough driver get to work? So you send out 4x4s.

What about in terms of dealing with emergencies? Because ambulances aren't 4x4s either?

No. On the day, when it snows, we open a major incident room.

Which is the room we used to carry out our interviews.

Which we would get kicked out of if a major incident were to happen.

The fire brigade also help us. They have got 4x4s.

-That's pretty good.

-And what's even more brilliant, the public, if we got stuck trying to get up a hill,

-they came to our rescue on occasion which was really, really good.

-That's reassuring, isn't it?

I hope you don't have blizzard conditions again because it makes your life pretty difficult.

-It certainly does.

-Thanks for chatting. That's what it's like here - what's it like out and about?

Anna can tell us all about that. She was out and about manning an ambulance when that was all going on

and, Anna, you were in those blizzard conditions. What was it like?

Because it was totally covered in snow, the whole area, wasn't it?

It was pretty horrendous and obviously a lot of snow.

The ambulances kept getting stuck.

Calls had increased considerably.

And how were your ambulance getting out and about? Was it difficult?

It was very difficult.

We got stuck on a patient's drive.

We couldn't get to some patients.

The ambulance, we couldn't get up a hill.

So we had to get all the kit out and walk up.

So what sort of calls were you getting? What sort of things were you dealing with?

Everything from numerous elderly falls to young people falling,

to 30-year-olds falling off a sledge, to general illness.

-You mentioned that one driveway was really long.

-Yeah.

-So what did you have to do?

It was about a quarter of a mile. Very steep.

And there was about a foot of snow at the time.

So, we had to get all of the kit out of the ambulance and walk up there.

-Which is different from normal, isn't it?

-A little bit.

-Did you enjoy it in a strange way?

-Oh, yes. It was fun.

-Thanks for that.

It makes you think, doesn't it?

Let's spare a thought for the teams that carry out rescues in the most remote parts of the British Isles

in these conditions, places where the snow is waist deep and visibility is limited -

the only way to get a casualty down the mountain is on foot.

People like Alan here, Alan Howarth from the Kinder mountain rescue team, who do that very job.

It is tough.

It can be on days like that, yes.

And Alan has actually been making his own films.

-How long have you been doing that?

-About three years now.

I take a small hand-held camera and film as I go.

We were very impressed with the film that he made.

Let's see some of what he's made. Here we go.

The Peak District on a Saturday afternoon in February.

There have been recent blizzards, it's freezing cold and windy.

A team of volunteers from the Kinder mountain rescue team are trudging through the snow.

These video pictures are not dissimilar

from some you might see from a polar expedition to the Antarctic.

The casualty was out walking when he was taken ill.

Around 40 rescuers from three teams are making this difficult trek.

They need the numbers because the man's more than an hour's hike away

and carrying him back in the deep snow will be exhausting.

Their expertise is invaluable at finding the quickest and safest route.

If the rescuers stray a few inches from the path, they sink down to almost their waist in the snow.

Chris, floundering.

With visibility deteriorating, the rescuers press on.

Eventually they make it to the casualty.

Thrilling, isn't it? You're thinking - why does the film stop there? Why DOES the film stop there, Alan?

To be honest I ran out of batteries. I was on my third set of batteries and the weather was not helping.

Also, as the cameraman as well as dealing with the casualty,

-I believe you had to stop filming there anyway.

-Yes, we did.

We have caught a couple of stills. A couple of things that come to mind when you look at this.

-This is where you got to the casualty. He was in a pretty bad way, wasn't he?

-He was, yeah.

He was vomiting, chest pains. So we've got to treat that as the worst possible condition.

So we need to get him off as quickly as we can.

It looks like something off of base camp on Everest, doesn't it?

It's difficult to believe that the conditions can be that bad up the mountain there.

It was bad up there, but when I set off, shopping down in Stockport, it wasn't too bad a day at the bottom.

Suddenly we get a call, to assist Glossop on a call out, and we're up in waist deep snow.

It's incredible, the way you keep disappearing. But if there are holes underneath you can't see them.

The other thing that caught my attention, we got another photograph here,

of the number of people involved in the rescue of this one person. Why so many?

We need as much manpower as possible.

It generally takes about eight people to carry a stretcher at one time.

We try to do it in relays. The objective is to get him off the hill as quickly as possible.

So the more people we have to do that, the better.

Would you literally just share the workload?

We have a team waiting. Then we hand the stretcher over to them. People take the stretcher on further.

They came from three different areas - you guys came from three different areas to get there.

Initially it was a call for the Glossop team. They called us to assist them and when they realised

that they couldn't get air support they called in the Edale team as well.

I was going to say that. One question that comes to mind is, why are you all trekking up the hill

when you could have called a helicopter in to fly up to the top?

We did do that. We attempted to get a helicopter.

In most cases with this kind of serious call, we would try to go to an air ambulance

but in these conditions, air ambulances can't fly, in low visibility.

We tried and tried, but it was clear that the weather was just too bad.

-You're on call pretty much any time, aren't you?

-Yeah.

You are tucked up in bed, nice and snug, or sat in front of a fire, with a cup of cocoa,

then you get a call, and you're waist-deep in snow.

-Why would you do that?

-The excitement, it's something different.

I used to do a lot of mountaineering. I want to put something back into the mountaineering community

-but also I like that at a moment's notice, I could be off somewhere.

-How did the patient do, by the way?

I never found out We just literally bring the guy off the hill, put him into the back of an ambulance,

the ambulance takes him to hospital, sometimes you find out, sometimes you don't.

We're all very pleased you're there to do the job you do.

And I'm sure he was, too. Thanks, nice talking to you.

Now, shiny, brand-new bicycle is exciting, whatever your age.

So, when 18 year-old Jenny was knocked off hers on her first outing,

she was more concerned about the bike and she was about herself.

Rapid-response paramedic Neil Milum has been sent urgently to a road accident.

As he makes his way, more details continue to filter through on the computer.

Looks like we're going to an 18-year-old female,

looks like she's been hit by a car.

It is a worrying sight.

Jenny is still lying where she landed in the middle of the street.

-My head hurts!

-Anything else apart from your head?

And my back.

Whereabouts are you hurt on your back?

There.

When she hit the car, Jenny wasn't wearing a helmet.

Where is your blood coming from?

On my head.

All right, I've got it, OK.

My phone's ringing.

Don't worry about your phone.

She's bleeding from a small cut to her head after falling heavily.

Mum Julie arrives to offer some comfort to her daughter.

Mum?

SHE SOBS

-OK.

-Neil's called for an ambulance.

It's the pain in Jenny's back that concerns him most.

After hitting the road hard, there's a chance she may have a spinal injury.

We'll get the trolley out and a board. She's got

central tenderness.

-I can walk.

-No, you can't walk, Jenny.

Just relax, all right?

-Stop doing stuff.

-Sorry.

Despite Jenny's protests, trying to walk too soon could aggravate any underlying damage to her back.

Jenny's new method of transport hasn't worked out too well.

-Only got it yesterday.

-It's all right, don't worry.

You got the bike yesterday? Hasn't ridden one for ages.

-That's no good.

-Should have bought a crash helmet.

Yeah.

To keep her neck steady, the team fit Jenny with a collar.

They have to get her into the ambulance in such a way

that her spine is kept as straight as possible.

OK, so when we lay you down, OK, you're only going to be

half on the board, then we're going to slide you on to the rest of it.

OK?

-Oh, my head.

-Yeah, all right, all right.

Just try and relax for us, hon.

Sorry.

-OK, stay where you are.

-Don't move for us, darling, all right?

Are you able to pop your arms across your chest for us?

Jenny seems more concerned about the welfare of her day-old bike than herself.

Mum goes to the rescue.

Do you want to take my stuff home? I can't leave my bike here.

Don't leave it here.

Medically speaking, it's a good sign that Jenny is so aware of her surroundings.

No apparent loss of consciousness. She remembers what she was doing.

She remembers what day it is today.

When we get to QA, we'll try to get you off this as soon as possible

because they appreciate how uncomfortable it is.

For the trip to the Queen Alexandra Hospital, Jenny will be trussed up securely to protect her.

Mum, will you take my bike home?

One, two, three...

-Oh.

-She arrived here on two wheels, but Jenny will have to leave on four.

It's a dramatic exit but Neil is confident that she won't suffer any further dramas down the line.

She wasn't wearing a helmet, so she's been very lucky just to sustain an abrasion to her head.

Hopefully, it won't be too long before Jenny is back in the saddle.

The good news is, Jenny is cycling again and she's doing just fine.

Just an update on a couple of things we'd been talking about.

Remember that boy with his mum, she was having chest pains, she was on the motorway -

they managed to get an ECG on the ambulance, and she is on her way to hospital.

He did fantastically, bringing the ambulance in, and staying calm on the phone.

Also that child Who had their hand stuck in the escalator. It sounded terribly painful.

-It was treated at the scene. Is on their way home.

-Excellent. That's all wrapped up then, isn't it?

-It is, indeed.

-More Real Rescues soon.

-Bye-bye.

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