Episode 12 Real Rescues

Today, Victor's nickname is Lucky and luck was on his side when he had a heart attack on a golf course.

A team of hospital consultants were just two holes away,

ready to carry out life-saving chest compressions.

I knew I'd broken several of his ribs cos I heard them go, and that's not uncommon.

And the driver who makes an emergency call as he's trapped under his 15-ton lorry.

Welcome to Real Rescues. Today we're at the Thames Valley Police Control

in Oxfordshire. The controllers based here coordinate rescues

using all kinds of police units, from air support to firearms teams.

They deal with calls from people in all sorts of stressful situations.

Di has been doing this job for longer than most

and I bet you've pretty much seen it all. Although, I have to say,

even she couldn't believe a 999 call that happened recently.

-The caller had an unusual phobia.

-Crumpets.

Crumpets, yes, you're hearing exactly right. Crumpets. More on that later. Louise.

There's never a good place to have a heart attack, but in this next film,

we see how one man was pulled back from the brink of death.

And the reason? His location and lots of luck.

Let's see what happened to Victor, known as Lucky to his friends.

'Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance has been scrambled.

'A sunny Saturday has turned serious for a golfer.'

-And it's a male cardiac arrest?

-Yeah, male cardiac arrest.

OK. I'll let them know we're airborne.

'On board are pilot Alf Gusparo,

'air paramedics Mark Begley, Paul Jefferies and Dr Simon Brown.'

RADIO CHATTER

HeliMed 24, ETA 12 minutes. Figures 1-2. Over.

'Paul knows speed is of the essence for the man who's suffered a severe heart attack.'

Are there any other resources going or are we the sole resource at this time? Over.

"HeliMed 24, I believe there is an off-duty intensive-care doctor on scene.

"There is a crew and a car also running. Over."

'Woburn Golf Course appears on the horizon. One of its advantages is a big fairway to land on.'

HeliMed 24, we're committing to land now. Over.

"Thank you."

'A group of golfers watch anxiously as one of their number, Victor, lies stricken on the green.

'An ambulance crew are already there

'and defibrillator pads have been used to shock his heart back into rhythm.'

"Start CPR."

"Give 30 compressions."

'Shaken, Victor's golfing partner Mark was with him when the attack started.'

Yeah.

'Victor is very lucky to have made it this far at all.

'When his heart attack started, two off-duty anaesthetists, Peter and Jane Reed,

'happened to be playing nearby. They leapt into action.'

Victor, at that stage, wasn't breathing and wasn't responsive.

Then I felt for a pulse and there was no pulse.

Victor's heart was what we called fibrillating,

which means instead of beating normally,

it's a bit like a bag of jelly, so it's not able to push out blood to the body.

'On the remote 12th hole, the couple knew they had to take on the job of Victor's failing heart.

'By repeatedly pushing hard on his chest,

'they were trying to pump enough blood round his body and to his brain to keep him alive.'

-CPR is physically hard work.

-You've got to put your back into it.

It needs to be continuous. You can't do it for two minutes and have a rest.

When I first started, I knew I'd broken several of his ribs

cos I'd heard them go, and that's not uncommon.

If you don't feel uncomfortable afterwards,

you haven't been doing it well enough.

But it is tiring and we were doing it for 20 minutes.

And that's why my wife and I took turns.

We continued until eventually a defibrillator came from the clubhouse,

-which we didn't know they had, but it was excellent.

-Like the cavalry arriving.

If we hadn't had a defibrillator, he would...

There was no option. I mean, he would've died.

'The couple gave Victor two blasts with the defibrillator

'to shock his heart back into working for itself.

'He's alive but he's certainly not out of the rough yet.

'They need to get him to hospital and to find out what caused his major heart attack.

'Until then, he could relapse at any minute.'

That amazing rescue continues later in the programme.

But how lucky is that? Hospital consultants to care for him on the fairway. Nick.

Extraordinary. OK, now, there's arachnophobia. Do you know what that is? Fear of spiders, well done.

And claustrophobia? The fear of enclosed spaces.

And halitophobia. Halito... Any ideas what that is?

-Bad breath?

-Bad breath is absolutely right! Very good!

But they are going to have to find a new name for the phobia that Di had to deal with recently.

Now, on the one hand, this is very funny. It would be wrong of us to pretend it isn't.

But at the same time, it's serious, so bear with us. What was the call about?

The lady had come home from work to find that

there was crumpets scattered up her driveway.

Somebody had sprinkled crumpets up her driveway?

Which is all very well, but she had such a fear of crumpets...

According to the person who took the call, she could hardly even use the word crumpet.

-You're not making this up?

-No, not making it up at all.

-She genuinely had a phobia of crumpets?

-Terrified of them.

-Right.

-We don't know whether it was what they looked like

or what they felt like, we don't know, but she just had a severe fear of them.

And somebody obviously knew this

and had terrorised her by doing that so when she came in from work, that's what she found.

-It sounds like a joke, but you would have to then respond to this seriously.

-Yes.

-As weird as it sounds.

-Yep.

-So what happened after that?

Well, a unit was sent there, they spoke to her and it was actually crimed as harassment.

It was a genuine case of harassment because the people knew she had this fear and had used it against her.

It doesn't have to be people throwing stones, it can be anything that can be used against you for harassment.

We've been trying to work out what kind of word it might be, because there is no Greek word for crumpet.

Cake is "glikisma".

So a crumpet phobia would be translated as glikismaphobic.

Or the person might be a trypophobic which means they have a fear of small holes,

which might have frightened her, the small holes on top of crumpets. If you know better, write in. Thanks.

Long-distance driver Eric drives a 15-ton refrigerated lorry.

When it packed up on a dual carriageway at two in the morning,

he thought nothing of crawling underneath to see what the problem was.

Trouble is, the suspension automatically lowered, trapping Eric underneath it.

Here's the call he made to this control room.

The spot where Eric's lorry broke down is unlit and has no hard shoulder.

The lorry is in the path of oncoming traffic and Eric's body is hidden under the slowly sinking vehicle.

Let's talk to Bridget who took what was actually a very long call. How long were you on the phone with him?

-About 15, 20 minutes in all.

-Was he OK?

He was fine, yeah. He was really chatty while he was on the phone

-and afterwards he was fine.

-And how did they get him out?

The fire service came along and they used these hydraulic airbags

that lift the lorry up so that they can pull Eric out from underneath the lorry.

-He actually had a pretty lucky escape, didn't he?

-He did, yeah.

He ended up with some bruising on his chest and that was all, really. He was just so lucky,

And very lucky that he was on his mobile. Because if he hadn't had that, what would've happened?

The vehicle was in lane one of a dual carriageway in the middle of nowhere.

Traffic would've ignored the fact that there was a lorry broken down there.

You look into a lorry to see if there's anybody with it, not necessarily under it.

But fortunately he had his mobile with him and was able to call us directly himself.

So dangerous for him. Dangerous for the traffic, as well, is it?

Yes. It's an unlit road where he was.

People get mesmerised by the hazard lights on a lorry, especially at night,

and we get an awful lot of accidents with people that hit the back of stationary broken-down vehicles.

What sort of things should we be watching out for if we're driving along and you see hazard lights?

-They draw you towards them.

-They do. Slow down. Think, "What is the hazard?"

"Have I got room to get round it safely or not?"

If you slow down, invariably, you can't go wrong.

OK. And tell us about him. He was like, "Oh, don't worry, just get a jack..."

He was. He was very calm about it all.

He said, "I just need somebody just to come and jack the lorry up and just get me out.

"Don't bother telling the wife. I'm OK."

-Aw!

-He was very sweet about it, but you have to consider his age,

where he is and the fact that he's got 15 tons of lorry on him.

-I'm very glad he got out safely. Thank you.

-Thank you.

Still to come on Real Rescues,

fighting fires at night can be dangerous, but not just because of the flames.

Are you still being watched? Over.

'Euan's broken his jaw, the paramedics keep telling him

'his teeth are all there but he just won't believe them.'

OK. I promise you, they are all still intact.

As we've seen, Victor the golfer collapsed after having a massive heart attack on a golf course.

It may sound weird, but he's been extremely lucky so far.

'Air medics are hoping to fly Victor to hospital in time for life-saving treatment.

'The fact he has a chance at all is down to the efforts of two other golfers who were nearby,

'Peter and Jane Reed. Both anaesthetists, they rushed to Victor's aid

'when his heart stopped and he collapsed on the course.

'They performed CPR for an exhausting 20 minutes until help arrived.'

I do realise that if my wife and I

hadn't continued doing that CPR then Victor would've died.

Many people would've probably given up,

but we could tell that what we were doing was working. He regained consciousness.

'They eventually needed the shock from a defibrillator to get Victor's heart beating on its own again.

'But to keep it working, he needs an operation.

'This is where the air ambulance comes into its own,

'as his best chance of long-term survival

'actually rests on them taking him to a hospital in Oxford, which is not the nearest one.'

We're taking him to the John Radcliffe Hospital cos they've got the ability to do primary PCI

which means they're able to have a look at the coronary artery

and if there is any blockage there, they're able to open up the blockage

and reduce the likelihood of him having a further cardiac arrest.

'It can be a tense journey with cardiac arrest patients.

'The risk of Victor suffering another attack whilst airborne means the team need to stay vigilant.'

That's good. It's just the other one which we'll need to...

-I'll put it down on top of him.

-That'll be fine.

-The lead is connected.

-OK, we'll hit the blood pressure once you've got that connected.

I'll keep an eye on it for you. If I think there's any peri-arrest rhythms,

I'll give you a heads-up.

'After landing at the hospital helipad,

'Victor will be transferred into an ambulance for the short hop to A&E.

'The air medics will remain with him all the way through.'

Vic, are you in any pain at all at the moment?

Does it hurt at all?

I'm just going to gently open your eyes, Victor. Thank you.

And gently open the other one. Well done.

You're in the ambulance. We're moving you to hospital now.

-Rhythm check, please.

-Yeah, it's still monitoring. Looks like a normal sinus, 81.

-Thank you.

-A unifocal ectopic has come in.

-Apart from that...

-Right, thank you.

HE GROANS We're nearly there, Victor.

'Thankfully, Victor's condition has improved considerably since the team first saw him.

'But he may yet require life-saving surgery to make sure he stays that way.'

I'm very pleased to say, against all the odds, Victor is able to join us here today

along with his very good friend and golfing partner Mark. Well, what an extraordinary day.

What a lucky person you are. What an extraordinary bunch of circumstances.

It certainly is. I've got everybody to thank that saved me

because otherwise I wouldn't be here now.

So just explain, cos you're playing a round of golf,

-feeling perfectly all right. Did you feel ill?

-No, not at all.

-Sank a putt. Is that right, Mark?

-Yeah, sunk a putt.

-Unusually for Vic, but sunk a putt.

-Right. And then?

Then I just don't remember anything.

-And he collapsed, is that right?

-Yeah, putt went in, he just walked off

and I looked round and he'd just fallen to the ground.

At once you were worried for him or not?

-Erm, as usual with mates, I thought he was messing around and slipped over.

-So you said?

-"Get up, Vic, don't be stupid."

-THEY LAUGH

-Nice.

-And then, obviously, he didn't get up.

-This might be serious.

-Yeah. So I went over to him and I realised straight away that it was serious.

A long time ago, I did a first aid course.

A long time ago. I'm not sure I'd remember. Had you ever done anything like that?

Same sort of thing, a long time ago, so I rolled him over, checked his pulse,

couldn't feel anything, whether he was breathing or not,

and heavy-handedly started some CPR stuff.

You must have been...very worried at that stage.

-I'm trying to think of the right words.

-Yeah, you always think,

"He's going to come round" but after what seemed like ages, he just wasn't coming round at all.

I'm going to run over the luck again, because the couple playing behind you...

Yeah, the couple behind us, husband and wife, both doctors.

-The couple in front?

-Both doctors.

Unbelievable. You're surrounded by doctors on the 12th.

Talk about picking your spot for it! Do you remember anything?

No. I don't remember much of the whole day.

You know... I just get little flashes and glimpses

that I was on the course, but nothing solid.

-Was he having a good round?

-For Vic, he was playing very well.

Typical. When you have a good one, you don't remember it.

But then on top of that, the amazing thing was also that the golf club also had a defibrillator.

So not only have you got doctors either side of you, but also...

-Who rang up the club? Was it you?

-It was one of the other playing partners who'd already rang 999.

They then rang the club and then found out that they'd had a defibrillator there

and so one of the marshals brought the defibrillator out and the doctors were able to use that.

A great place to have a heart attack because they can land the helicopter

and get you directly to one of the specialist places.

So what happened? Have they fitted a defibrillator?

-They have, yes.

-And how have you been feeling since?

Feel fine since the ribs got better.

Yeah, cos... Didn't he have a go at you?

He came round on the Saturday evening, I got his daughter and his step-daughter there

-and the first thing he said to me was, "What did you do to my chest?"

-That's nice, isn't it?

-Have you had a round of golf since?

-I haven't played with Vic. He's not allowed out with me any more.

-Not without two doctors behind?

-Yeah.

-How much were you playing for a hole?

We always play for £5 a round and 50 pence for birdies

-and I had a birdie that day, so he still actually owes me 50 pence.

-I'm going to pay him now.

-On television.

-He is actually going to do it, as well!

-I'm not going to moan. There's interest.

THEY LAUGH

-Guys, lovely to talk to you and really nice to see you looking so well. Thank you.

-Cheers.

I'm in the parade room and what I want to talk about is,

sometimes police officers have to help out other emergency services.

-James here is a response officer, so you do lots of night shifts, don't you?

-Yes.

-Are you often called out to help ambulance crews?

-Yes, it's not uncommon for us to help the ambulance

-or any emergency service.

-I know if a knife is mentioned in a call...

-You've got a specific example, haven't you?

-Yes.

We've attended incidents where a male has self-harmed with a knife,

an ambulance crew had been called and they call us so we can assist.

-We turn up first to make sure it's safe before the ambulance crew go in.

-And what happened on that occasion?

The male pulled a knife out on myself and my colleague and had to be restrained

-and then taken to hospital.

-So that's exactly why if a call comes in, knife, that's why you go.

-Yes.

There are other examples where you know you might need to help.

Yes, we go and assist quite often where they will call up because people have got warning markers.

-What does that mean?

-It means they've been involved in an incident in the past

where they were violent towards ambulance staff or they're liable to attack them.

We will go and assist to make sure it's safe before the ambulance go in

-and also we'll transport them in the ambulance with the paramedics.

-So you're on board the ambulance.

What about firefighters? Are there specific places you might go with them?

If they go to a fire location where they know they've had problems in the past,

it's not uncommon for them to contact the police to turn up,

just to contain crowd safety and make sure nothing happens to them.

So you make sure both the ambulance and all of you turn up at the same time, or you before them?

We'll try and turn up at the same time, or if we know where the fire is,

we will turn up and then we lead by their direction when we go to a fire incident.

Very interesting. Thank you. In the next rescue, the firefighters are called out to a burning caravan

and they need to judges the locals' reaction before moving into action.

'The firefighters of green watch are heading out to a disused industrial site. A caravan is on fire.

'There are no reports of anyone inside but there are plenty of potential hazards.

'Watch manager Sean Foster is in charge.'

Cylinders, guys, OK? Watch out for cylinders.

'Caravans often have gas cylinders which could explode in the heat

'When they get there, the caravan is burning fiercely.

'They're clearly not going to be able to save it.

'The site is being used by travellers.

'Sean wants to find out if the caravan belongs to them.

'He goes to investigate on foot with crew manager Steve Evans.

'But the travellers say it has nothing to do with them.'

All right, well, we'll put it out. Thanks a lot, guys. Thank you very much.

'It turns out that the men who brought the caravan here in the morning are long gone.

'Suddenly Sean's attention is diverted to the perimeter fence.

'The crew outside, still on board the fire engine,

'are worried about a group of men hanging around.'

Guy said someone's watching them in hoodies.

Receiving? Over.

-This is Adam.

-Adam, are you able to speak to me? Over.

Yep, I can. Over.

Are you still being watched? Over.

No, they looked a bit shifty hanging around the back of the building, but they've gone in. Over.

'Firefighters never know for sure what they may encounter on a call-out.

'Trouble is highly unlikely but in the dark, on a large patch of waste land,

they have to stay extra-vigilant.'

Sometimes the emergency services come under attack and physical abuse.

Later at night, the public can be aggressive towards you due to alcohol

or they can be aggressive because they're agitated or worried.

But fortunately, in the fire service, it's very seldom.

We always have the option of calling the police to assist us,

but we tend to work as a team and look after one another.

'Their priority is putting this fire out.'

Right, guys! Water tender's going in. The ladder's going to come in with them

but we're not going to use the ladder. Probably not going to need your sets. We'll put it out.

'A quick look at the caravan reveals there's no danger from gas cylinders, so they move in closer.'

-Alan, can you send further information for me?

-Yep.

One caravan, severe, two hose reels, two BA, incident mode Oscar.

'While Paul Beckett and Rob Martin prepare to tackle the flames,

'their crew mates keep an eye out for any other activity. Sean keeps Control up to date.'

I'm going to stay with the water tender at the moment.

We're not getting any trouble at all, but we're just acting as lookouts.

'Paul and Rob make short work of dosing the fire.

'The fire's damped down and there are no other incidents.

'The next job is cleaning up the gear.

'The next call-out might be to a slightly smarter location.'

Guys, when we get back, we need to wash our boots.

A good example of that was last week.

We had those lovely cream carpets, didn't we, the following morning.

Nice to know that if they turn up at your house, they'll have very clean boots.

Now, falling into very cold water can lead to hypothermia

or, in extreme cases, even death within a few minutes.

So when on a wintry day, some rowers were dumped into the sea after their boat capsized,

it was a race to get them to safety.

-'Coastguard helicopter 106 are in the middle of a rescue operation.'

-Good line. Forward ten.

'Two people have already been winched up into the helicopter

'but three still remain in the water down below.

'The sea is a chilly 12 degrees, so there's no time to lose.

'Earlier, the helicopter crew had been on a training exercise near their Portland base

'when they got a call diverting them to Exmouth, 40 miles away.

'Five people had been thrown into the sea when their rowing gig capsized.

'Far from shore and unable to right their boat in the cold, choppy conditions,

'helicopter co-pilot Mark Bazalgette feared for the rowers' safety.'

What worried us was the screaming north-easterly wind just above zero

which would have chilled anyone who was wet to the bone

and when we got there, we found that they weren't wearing wetsuits,

which meant they had a short time before they were in serious trouble.

'On reaching the upturned gig, winchman Dougie Ayles was sent down to start lifting them to safety.

'Normally he'd head for the worst off, but here everybody was in the same predicament.'

Obviously, if someone was floating upside down, they would be first,

but they all seemed to be heads out of the water, looking at me,

so I grabbed the first person and we took it from there.

'Time to rescue casualty number three.'

Forward one. And steady.

Contact. Steady. Steady.

'As he's plucking people from water rather than a deck or a rock face,

'Dougie has had to change his footwear accordingly.'

The reason for wearing the fins, when you're in the water, you can manoeuvre yourself easily,

go behind them to turn them round. If you've got a set of fins on, it makes it so much easier.

Steady. Back one.

'Dougie treads water while simultaneously wrapping a harness around the rower.

'Only one of them, a woman, has been able to perch on the hull of the boat.

'The rest have been in the sea for at least 20 minutes.'

He's working the casualty. Just strapping them.

They were mildly hypothermic. They were shaking, a sign that they're going into hypothermic shock.

OK, he's ready now. Just winching the wire.

'Pilot Kevin Balls keeps the helicopter hovering at 75 foot

'while winch operator Steve Larson carefully reels them in.'

-He's just in swimming trunks.

-OK, that's good. I've got Dougie 20 foot below the step.

At the doorway. And bringing them in the cabin.

'The third rower is now up and into the warm.

'But before Dougie needs to be lowered out again,

'a lifeboat crew have joined the rescue effort.

'They pull the remaining people aboard.

'The rowers are now all safely out of the water, but they're not out of the woods.'

We can get the other two in the back and take them all to A&E.

'Dougie is worried that they're really feeling the effects of the cold.'

After a lengthy period in water, you need a slow recovery to be rewarmed

that needs to be done in hospital,

so we decided, once the lifeboat made it ashore, that we would pick all the five casualties up

and a quick hop to Exeter Emergency Department to get them checked out and rewarmed.

"Can you touch down on our ramp?"

-Yeah, on the ramp is fine.

-We can go wheels light on the ramp.

'So the rowers are to be reunited and what could have been a disastrous outcome

'will hopefully end up with just a check-up and a warm cup of tea at hospital.'

Now, "I fell off my bike" is up there with sickness and alien abduction

in the top excuses to get out of school or homework.

But in this next rescue, a student genuinely has fallen off his bike on the way to his finals.

It's now the last thing on his mind as all he can think about is his teeth.

'Paramedic Chris Reed is on duty in the ambulance with colleague Olly Hunt when they get a call-out.

'A cyclist has been badly hurt in a road accident.'

The police are en route for this one, as well?

"He's just fallen, it's not an RTC."

'There are no other vehicles involved but the cyclist is flat out on the pavement.

'The only visible injury is a two-inch-long deep gash to his chin.'

-What's happened today?

-I was cycling along

and I was trying to get up the kerb

and I fell off my bicycle and flat on my chin.

-On your chin?

-Yeah. Feels like I've got no teeth.

-Any pain anywhere else?

-Just my chin, really, and my head. My head's really bad.

'The cyclist is so stunned by the accident that he's forgotten he's still holding his phone.'

Do you want to put the phone down for a minute and we'll have a little chat?

My colleague's just going to hold your head until I can make sure you haven't damaged your neck.

-I'll have a listen to your chest.

-What's your name?

-Euan.

-Euan.

'Euan's hurtled over the handlebars after hitting the kerb.

'His chin was the first part of his body to hit the ground.

'It's taken the full brunt of the fall.'

-Any pains in your neck?

-Yeah.

-Do you remember the event?

-Yeah.

-You do?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-It wasn't pleasant.

-OK. Any pain where I'm pressing?

-No.

-No?

-Any pain there?

-No. That's pain.

-There's pain there?

-Yeah.

-Definitely pain there?

-Yeah.

'Chris is very worried about the pain Euan has in his neck.

'But the student is more concerned about his teeth.

'The accident seems to have affected the feeling inside his mouth.'

-Have I got teeth left?

-Yeah, you've got teeth left.

None of your teeth are displaced. Poke your tongue out.

'Chris must prioritise protecting his spine.

'He needs to be laid flat and it has to be done very precisely.'

Go on, then. Lower, lower. Lower.

We're just going to get another ambulance to help us.

'Euan needs maximum protection for his spine. They need a third person to move him safely.'

6401, please can we have another pair of hands? An ambulance or a car will be fine.

On blues, please.

How you doing, Euan?

'Euan's a student at Bournemouth University

'and this accident couldn't have happened at a worse time.

'He was on his way to a presentation for his finals. Now his mind is on other things.'

-Have I lost a lot of blood?

-No, not at all.

-Cos that could be the reason why I'm getting cold.

-No, no, it's just shock.

This is not designed to be comfortable, all right? It's designed to keep your neck in line.

We're not going to move you until the other ambulance gets here.

-Where's the most pain?

-Jaw.

-Your jaw. OK.

On a scale of 0 to ten, 0 being no pain, ten being the worst pain you've ever felt in your life,

-where would you put this pain in your jaw?

-Eight.

Sorry? About an eight, is it? OK.

'Backup has arrived in the shape of emergency care practitioner Debbie Thompson.

'Chris fills her in.'

I'm just giving him something for the pain in his chin, then scoop him and block his head.

'The pain suggests Euan might have done some damage to his back.

'Strapping him onto the board might be uncomfortable.'

Euan, do you want some gas and air for the pain in your chin?

It's a pain relief that's inhaled.

You can take it whenever you feel pain and you can put it down.

-It's quick-acting, short-lasting.

-I'm cool.

You don't want any, no? OK.

'Euan can't grin but decides to bear it.'

Ready, set, lower. I would consider this a scoop out.

I'm just trying to keep you warm, all right? This is just to keep you

in neutral alignment on the board, all right?

How's the pain in your chin?

OK, all right.

OK. I promise you, they are all still intact.

'Euan clearly has some altered sensation which makes him think his teeth have gone.'

OK. Open your mouth again.

Just chips, OK.

'Chris can only reassure him and make a note to pass on to the emergency team at A&E.'

All I can do at the moment is just record what you're telling me and I'll have a chat with the doctors.

Still painful, is it?

Sorry?

You sure you don't want any pain relief?

'Euan is showing great stoicism.

'He's now in the hands of the emergency care doctors at Bournemouth Hospital

'who'll investigate his symptoms fully.'

Well, let's find out what happened next. We saw you, Euan, going into the hospital.

Turns out you'd broken your jaw, hadn't you?

Yeah, I had broken my jaw right up here near my ear.

Right. Tell us about the teeth, because they could see your teeth

but what did they feel like to you?

Because I slammed so hard into the concrete on the ground, my nerves were in shock.

I couldn't feel any of my teeth and because they hit so hard, they were all jagged...

They felt jagged even though they were OK?

-Or most of them were.

-Yeah, exactly. Because they were all so jilted from the impact,

when I ran my tongue across them, I felt serrations.

-And why was that, do you know?

-It was because all the nerves were in shock round my mouth.

And you've got it all pinned up at the moment, haven't you?

My jaw's all wired shut and it's going to be for another two weeks.

-And how's that affecting you?

-Well, I've lost two stone because of it.

Two stone! In five or six weeks?

Yes, exactly. I haven't been able to eat any solid food.

It's just been protein shakes, soup, porridge, rice pudding, that kind of thing.

-That's very boring.

-Yes.

-Just tell us about your finals, because you were on your way

-to do the presentation.

-Yes, I was.

-So what happened?

Well, my group went on. That's who I was on the phone to, one of my group members.

And they didn't know what had happened, they thought I was just sleeping in late.

Of course, I was just lying on the pavement and couldn't move.

And they went on without me, but my version, my video which I made is up on my blog

and my lecturers have seen it now.

-So they'll give you dispensation for not actually turning up.

-Yeah.

-Did they believe you?

-I don't think they believed me at first, no.

I think they just thought it was another crazy excuse.

It's a very old excuse. So you don't know what you got for that exam?

-Not yet, no.

-What about cycling? Cos I know you're a keen cyclist. What are you going to do about that?

I think I might take a bit more persuasion to get back on my bike. I'll probably learn to drive.

Good idea. Thanks very much.

Specialist listening equipment like this, these little orange blobs,

have got incredibly sensitive pads underneath.

They're used to find people in the rubble of collapsed buildings.

But when Cookie the dog chased a rabbit down a hole,

firefighters decided using it was the best way to locate the missing terrier.

'Shropshire firefighters have been called to a small wood almost a mile from the nearest road.

'The worried owner of a small terrier urgently needs their help.

'Cookie has chased one rabbit too many and definitely too far.

'She's now stuck down a rabbit hole.

'The soft ground has collapsed behind her and she's well and truly trapped.

'She's already been underground for almost two hours.

'The first job for the rescue team is to try and locate just where she is.'

-Rest, everyone.

-HE WHISTLES

The hole that the dog had gone down, there was no sound at all.

And another hole was probably about five, six, seven metres away.

We could hear really faint barks.

-Was that a bark then?

-There was definitely barking, yeah.

'The barks mean Cookie is still alive and not too far away.

'But there's a chance the harness she's wearing could've caught on a tree root

'The fire crew now need to use their specialist listening equipment

'to get a better fix on where Cookie is.

'It's what they would use to find people under collapsed buildings after an earthquake.'

-Cookie!

-Quiet.

We were still shouting for the dog and then getting everyone to keep quiet

and listening to see if we could hear the barks and the dog was still barking back.

Stay still.

'It's good news. Cookie must be very close to where they're digging.

'Her owners still have reason to hope.

'The digging goes on for two hours. It's hard physical work

'and the firefighters take it in turns to keep up the speed.'

It was a case of keep digging, keep digging.

The dog was barking back every time.

Cookie! Cookie!

'They're trying to pinpoint the spot where Cookie is using a snake-eye camera

'which can look round bends and send back images.'

-It splits again there.

-'But it shows nothing more than a complex warren.

'It's down to more digging and some more wood-clearing.'

We're going to stop for a minute and let Rob shout. Quiet.

Cookie!

Come on, girl!

Yep, I can hear it. Going that way.

-This way?

-Can we just get the...

There. That's where you want to be. There.

'Despite most of the earth being dug away, she still can't make her way out of the hole.

-'Cookie's owner gets down to try and coax her out.'

-Cookie! Cookie!

Cookie, come on! Cookie! Come on, then.

'But the barking has changed to a whimpering.

'Something is wrong. She may be caught up on some roots.

If we can get a direction...

'The atmosphere lightens. Everyone is willing Cookie to come out of the hole.

'But to a small, frightened dog, Luke's hand reaching out to help could seem like a threat.'

'The gloves go on just in case.'

A bunch of strangers, as well.

-Some of them very strange.

-Speak for yourself!

'They're so close but it's not all over.

'Cookie could still move further down the hole and out of reach.'

-There we go.

-THEY CHEER

'But at last she's free.

'Her owner's joy and relief is clear to see.'

-Do you want us to dig for the harness?

-Thank you so much!

Yes, find the harness! THEY LAUGH

'A dusting down and a good drink and Cookie's as good as new.'

It's nice to help people, yeah. You certainly get a good feeling

and you've done something to help somebody. I think the lady would've been very upset

had the dog not come out and she was very happy and I think the crew were pretty satisfied. A worthwhile job.

No, you're not going anywhere!

Perhaps that will teach Cookie not to go chasing rabbits.

Callers dialling 999 to report suspicious happenings

can sometimes provide vital clues in police work.

Just one random nugget of information can prove the missing link that officers need.

-Ben, are you off the phone now?

-Just about, yeah.

You got an example of somebody phoning up and she gave you extraordinary information.

Yeah, she was an old lady and she called us quite early in the morning,

about five o'clock. At these times, we're all half-asleep.

But she called us, she'd just been woken up by a car driving very fast

-down her road, which is a cul-de-sac, so it doesn't happen often.

-Yes.

And she looked out and saw two males jumping into another car

and then driving off at speed, which at this sort of time is very strange indeed.

And it turns out that what she'd actually seen was two men stealing cars from her neighbour.

But she didn't realise at first. So she called me up and said,

-"I really don't know if this is an emergency or not."

-And she was very charming.

-Very charming.

She was happy to stay on the phone. Most people at this time in the morning would be miffed,

like Shrek or something.

But she was quite happy to speak to us, quite happy to stay on the phone

and give us as much information as possible until we got there

and it really helps getting descriptions of the cars, the people, understanding what had gone on.

OK. So you wouldn't have known anything about that. Did she give you some of the registration?

She tried. That's the major thing. When someone calls to say, "I've seen this car drive off"

we always try and get a registration, but it was very dark and she couldn't see anything.

And she was elderly. Not to say she couldn't see perfectly.

-But she did manage to give us some good descriptions.

-Did you get them?

Well, we got there to find that they'd broken into the house

to steal the keys for cars, which is quite a common thing now.

We woke up the owners who gave us the registrations...

-And then you could go after them.

-Of course.

-Excellent. So it's always worth calling.

-Always worth calling.

-Thank you.

These things are amazing! In a kitchenette just under number four, someone's buttering some toast.

No, it's peanut butter. Crunchy peanut butter.

-That's all we've got time for this time. Join us for more Real Rescues soon.

-See you then. Bye.

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