Episode 10 Real Rescues

Today on Real Rescues, how good Samaritans saved a man's life

after he almost loses his arm in an accident.

A car smashes through a central reservation.

The driver is not injured, but she could be in big trouble.

The priority is at the moment taking her down to custody

to see how much alcohol she has in her system.

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues.

We're with Britain's emergency services

on the roads, in the air and at sea.

Today, we're at police headquarters at Lewes in East Sussex.

Around me, people are dealing with cries for help.

They're coming in by phone, text and e-mail.

And it never ceases to amaze the staff here

just to ingenious the public can be

when they find themselves caught up in an emergency and need help fast.

I'm just going to interrupt James here, if it's possible.

-Can you talk to me for a second?

-Of course.

James, you got a phone call from a gentleman one evening

in a bit of trouble, didn't you?

Yeah, we did.

It came in on our 999 call line.

The chap had been burgled

and he was quite understandably in a lot of distress.

But he called up and went through the details with the call-taker

and discussed what had happened.

But it wasn't until the very end of the call

that he revealed that there had been a bit of a problem,

and he'd actually been tied up.

So there was a massive delay between the time he was burgled

and the time he ended up calling, because he'd been tied up?

-Yes, right.

-So how did he get in touch with you?

Well, it all happened the previous evening,

and the poor guy had actually had to crawl down the stairs, tied up,

make his way downstairs, and by the next morning,

being able to knock the phone off the hook,

dial 999 with his nose and put a call into us.

-Oh, my goodness!

-So...

And was he OK?

He was all right, just understandably quite upset.

But we, of course, sent a unit out there straightaway.

Got the police to his address and got him untied and assisted him.

My goodness! Must've been a terrible time for him.

-Yeah.

-James, thank you very much.

Not a problem at all.

It's police policy to breathalyse

every driver caught up in an accident.

But despite years of successful drink-driving campaigns,

some motorists to seem oblivious to what they can and can't drink

to stay within the legal limit,

as traffic cop Shelley Marder discovered,

on duty in East Sussex one evening.

8pm in East Sussex. It's a clear March night.

There's no ice, and driving conditions are good.

Even so, the emergency services have been called out.

A driver has crashed a car.

We're on our way to a single vehicle collision.

The vehicle has lost control

and collided with the central reservation.

And it's blocking the road.

We're unsure on the injuries or if anyone else is involved

or whether the driver is still at the scene.

PC Shelley Marder is heading for a small village that straddles

the main London to Eastbourne Road, the A22.

The fire and ambulance services are already on the scene.

Traffic cop Shelley updates control.

It looks like there's one vehicle at the moment.

It's hit the central island and spun

and is in the middle

of the northbound carriageway at the moment.

A badly damaged car has ended up blocking one side of the road.

Hiya, who's the driver?

She's in the house, is she? OK.

The female driver managed to walk across

to get help from local residents.

The fire crew have been in to see her.

She says she's not injured or anything. She hasn't got any...

-Doctors may need to know where she is.

-Right.

-Yeah.

-That's all right. OK.

Now Shelley knows the driver's OK,

she can turn her attention to how the accident happened.

When there's no obvious medical reason for a driver to crash,

drinking and driving has to be considered.

Shelley can tell a lot from the crash site.

The lady was travelling northbound up the A22.

She's, for some reason, come along into the central hatchings here,

where she's mounted the central reservation,

causing it to rip and damage the lighting.

And then she's gone up, she's lost control

and ended up at a 90-degree angle

in the northbound carriageway of the A22.

It's quite dark here. There's no street lighting.

It's quite lucky no-one else has hit into her

and caused any more injuries or damage.

The 41-year-old driver is still being looked after

in the house by the medical team.

Shelley also needs talk to her but with the aid of a breathalyser.

KNOCKS ON DOOR

As the firefighters make the car safe by disconnecting the battery,

Shelley gets the test results.

Have you had anything to drink today?

OK. When was your last alcoholic drink?

Because you've failed the breath test.

Yes.

So you are under arrest.

I'm going to allow you guys to do what you need to do.

-MAN:

-Is it all right if we just finish off here?

The driver's been found out.

In the UK, on average, 1,500 people are killed

or seriously injured every year due to drink-driving.

One in seven of all deaths on the road

involved drivers over the legal alcohol limit.

Have a seat in here.

This time, no-one was hurt.

But it could have been very different.

I think she's been incredibly lucky.

The car safety features have done their job.

The airbags have gone off, the seatbelts have restrained her.

And she's been able to walk away.

Thankfully, the only casualty here was the central reservation.

Luckily, no other person was injured or involved in it, really.

The priorities at the moment are taking her down to custody

to see how much alcohol she has in her system.

In relation to the road, we have Recovery on the way.

People directing traffic so that traffic can flow.

We're not causing too much of a disturbance

for members of the public.

Get her vehicle sorted and out the way,

and open the road as quickly as possible.

Shelley escorts the woman to the police station.

If you can step out for me?

She'll undergo blood tests to confirm her alcohol levels.

Have a seat.

That drink driver was over the legal limit.

She was convicted and faces a ban of up to 30 months.

We saw Shelley there.

Shelley, given that there are lots of warnings,

we all know you shouldn't drink and drive,

are you surprised by how many people still do it?

You'd think, with all the advertising

and everything that we have out there.

There are so many people that still drink and drive.

It's disappointing, really.

Why do you think that is? Why are they still doing it?

I think people have a misconception of how much they're drinking.

And that they think they're fine,

but, actually, they are over the legal limit.

How often do you hear that excuse, "Oh, I only had one drink?"

All the time. All the time.

-Is that the sort of thing people say to you?

-Yeah.

"I've only had one drink or one glass of wine with my meal,"

"I've just been to the pub. I've had one pint,"

or something like that.

When, depending on all the different elements of your body

and food as well,

-you could be over the legal limit.

-Right.

Do you still make people walk in a straight line

or is that really passe?

We do for drug testing at the side of the road.

Field impairment testing.

They have to do several different skill tests and exercises,

and one of them is walking in a line.

-Thanks very much, Shelley.

-That's OK.

Now we're about to hear an extraordinary 999 call.

Stuart has had a terrible accident on his allotment.

His arm is almost severed, but there's no-one around.

So Stuart's had to run to the nearby canal,

where he comes across a cyclist, who keeps very cool

as he calls for emergency help.

Well, another man also rushed to help

after hearing the desperate cries,

and it turned out to be one of his friends, Steve.

He immediately began first aid,

but Stuart is falling in and out of consciousness.

With a tourniquet in place, Steve takes over the call.

I'm delighted to say, Stuart and Steve are here.

My goodness! I can see you two getting quite emotional there,

when you were listening to that.

I'll come to you first of all.

I mean, you were dropping in and out of consciousness.

-Yeah.

-Did you think you were a goner?

I did, actually, yes.

I knew it was going to be pretty close,

through my experiences with the fire service.

And I waited quite a while,

it seemed like a long time, for the ambulance.

And I were just so glad when Steve turned up to help me.

A face that I knew.

-Yeah, you're mates?

-Yeah.

-Good mates?

-Oh, yeah.

Absolutely.

And you suddenly see a mate not just in trouble, but in serious trouble.

What was going through your head? Have you got medical experience?

No, none at all.

I didn't actually need it, really,

because I think Stuart just took control straightaway.

And seemed calm, collected, relaxed and told me exactly what to do.

Yes, you're a firefighter,

so you've seen some pretty horrific things, I can imagine?

-Yeah.

-But this is happening to you.

You're dropping in and out of consciousness

and you've got your mate there.

You just bossed him about, did you?

Yeah, I did my best!

I usually do that, anyway!

No, I realised that I needed to stop this flow of blood.

It had been going quite a while,

and I knew that I couldn't really have that much left

and I was feeling extremely faint.

So I laid on the floor and I asked Steve to get a lead off...

There was a guy walking past with a dog,

and I asked if I could borrow the lead.

And I said, "Go and get a stake,"

and I explained where I needed this putting on my arm,

and then we could tighten it up.

And, to be honest, once we tightened that tourniquet,

it turned the blood flow off like a tap.

And I feel like it was just in time,

because I was about to go unconscious, I think, at that point.

Yeah. I mean, people walking by you, say, with dogs and things,

were people running away from you, when you are walking around

with blood coming out of your arm?

There were a few.

The initial caller, I had to calm him down and say,

"Please, just don't look at my arm.

"Please make the call and explain very carefully

"where we are," because it's a difficult address

for the ambulance crew to find. So I had to be specific about that.

I had to keep as calm as I could,

but I knew that I was running out of time to stem this flow of blood.

That's why I was so pleased to find Steve.

I've known Steve a very long time

and I know he's a tough guy and I knew that he could deal with it.

And he did, thankfully.

He did everything I asked him and didn't argue.

There's a tough guy,

and then there's a mate who is really in serious trouble,

and he's giving you instructions.

Did you ever think, "This is too much for me,

"I've got to do something else.

"He doesn't know what he's talking about"?

No, because the situation I were in, he was in control.

I don't know how, but he was just in control.

And then the ambulance eventually took him away,

and, thankfully, you're all right now.

-Thankfully.

-And what did you do next?

When the ambulance went away,

I just put the dog away.

I told his next-door neighbours to lock up the house for him

or just to keep an eye on the house.

-And went for a pint.

-Went for a pint!

-I bet you went for a couple of pints!

-Yeah, yeah!

Obviously, it was more serious for you. You went to hospital.

What happened next?

Well, I was in surgery for about seven to nine hours,

and the surgical staff at Wythenshawe did a fantastic job.

And when I woke, they told me that the hand had been replanted,

but I'm not out of the woods.

We've got a couple of years of possibly more surgery

-and lots and lots of physiotherapy.

-OK.

Anyone with a slightly dicky tummy may want to look away now,

but let's just show some of the scars of that arm.

My goodness!

You did do yourself some damage there!

But they've done a fantastic job, haven't the?

Yeah, they did fantastic, yeah. I'm really pleased.

And can you show me any movement in your hand?

It's getting there, isn't it?

Yeah, it's getting there. It's very early days.

-It's only a few months, isn't it?

-Yeah, couple of months.

-Mate, well, it's great to see you.

-Thank you.

And thank you for taking orders and being bossed about!

Goodness! I'm glad he's OK.

Now, usually, when we see fishermen on Real Rescues,

they're in peril at sea.

Not so, though, in our next rescue.

This fishermen is in trouble on land.

Matt Stiles needs to be airlifted from the beach

by the Coastguard rescue helicopter.

Portland, Dorset. Coastguard helicopter 106 is being scrambled.

They're heading for a stretch of remote coastline to a man

who's taken a bad fall amongst slippery boulders and can't move.

23-year-old Matthew Stiles was beachcombing with his girlfriend

when he lost his footing.

He's lying in agony with a dislocated knee half an hour's walk

from the nearest village, and the tide is coming in.

Fossil hunters come to the Jurassic cliffs from all over the world.

Two of them heard Matthew's cries for help and alerted the Coastguard.

Within minutes, the helicopter was in the air.

The crew spot Matthew, but setting down close to him won't be easy.

He was at the western end, and that is extremely rocky.

There's quite large boulders,

but there was a small patch of beach

about 30 metres short of where he was lying.

-(OVER RADIO)

-'Well, it looks, you know, not the most successful place.'

And that's our preferred choice. If we can land,

it's a lot better than actually winching the winchmen down

to the casualty, because you don't have the problem with the downwash.

Because they've been able to land, Spike can leave the aircraft

along with the winchman, Dougie Ayles, to treat Matthew.

They have to work fast. The landing pad may be disappearing soon.

When we arrived on scene,

we thought we possibly had about 20 minutes before the tide came in.

They immediately give him gas and air.

They need to ease his pain before placing his leg in a vacuum splint.

The ideal situation with a dislocation is to put it back into anatomical line.

Two things - first of all, it controls the pain a lot more

if it's back in anatomical line.

And it is also less likely to be knocked,

if we have to winch the casualty.

This isn't the first time Matthew has dislocated his knee.

This time he's braved the pain

and managed to push his kneecap back into place himself.

And as soon as I'd done it, I reached my hand down and I could feel my kneecap was sticking out.

And I knew straightaway exactly what I'd done

and I had a sort of sick feeling.

When I managed to straighten my leg enough to pop my kneecap back in,

it was a sigh of relief, really.

But I still knew I wouldn't be able to get up and walk away from it.

With the pain relief beginning to kick in,

the next step is to get Matthew in a protective casualty bag

and onto the stretcher, ready to be winched up.

Spike and Matt's girlfriend, Georgie, make their way to the helicopter.

It's ready to take off and allow the winching to begin.

Winchman Dougie stays on the ground with Matthew.

They'll travel up together.

-(OVER RADIO)

-'Forward 15 and right, OK?'

His pain is so bad, they haven't been able to put Matthew's leg back in line.

It's bent at right angles

and in danger of being knocked as he's moved.

-(OVER RADIO)

-'And steady.

'Winching in.

'OK, they've cleared the rocks. And you're clear to move forward.'

We were spinning round quite a bit,

and it made me feel a little bit sick getting winched up,

but at the same time, I was a bit disappointed

that I was only looking up and not getting a look at the great view around me.

-(OVER RADIO)

-'98.

-Roger, winching in.'

Because there wasn't a lot of wind there,

the casualty did start to spin.

So what we need to do is get him out over the water

and we need to descend the aircraft as I'm winching in,

so the stretcher comes up to meet the aircraft coming down.

The spinning is a particular worry.

Only Dougie's skill can protect Matthew from unbearable pain,

should his bent knee knock against the aircraft.

Dougie places his own body between Matthew

and the helicopter as a protection.

'Three...

'two...

'Dougie's at the step now.'

In just over five minutes, Matthew will be at Dorchester Hospital,

where his leg will be thoroughly checked out and realigned.

So today we're in East Sussex, which is quite rural,

and they do get calls here about animals, don't they, Andrew?

-Yes.

-You had a call about a calf that was where it shouldn't be,

-in a river, didn't you?

-Yeah, we received quite a number of calls

into the call centre about a calf swimming its way downriver,

down the River Ouse, which runs straight through our town centre.

So obviously it had fallen in the river upriver

and slowly made its way downriver to us.

People were really concerned about it, so what did you do?

We got quite a number of calls, and people were trying to rescue the cow themselves,

so they were getting themselves into a predicament.

So we sent a number of officers down there, a number of different resources,

including one of our wildlife officers.

So we just tried to move people back

and coordinate the rescue efforts.

First of all, we called the Coastguard,

but sadly it was too far inland for their boats to get to us.

So you used a local rowing club?

Yeah, a local rowing club were eventually contacted.

They actually offered to help us, which was good of them.

But they came around and managed to corral the cow - the calf, sorry -

down into the river and get it up close towards the bank,

whereby the fire brigade could then pull it out onto the bank.

So it's proper teamwork, isn't it?

Yeah, quite a lot of resources involved.

And everybody will think, "Resources involved, my goodness me,

"is that a waste of money to go and try and get a calf out of the river?"

-But people were in danger, weren't they?

-That's it.

If people put themselves into that situation, it's distressing for the public as well.

So it is in our concern if it's causing that amount of stress,

and it's right in the centre of town as well.

-OK, and a valuable calf for the farmer as well.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-And he got reunited with his calf.

-So he would've been happy.

-Yeah, everyone's a winner.

-Thanks, Andrew.

-No worries.

What a moo-ving story!

Now, still to come on Real Rescues, seatbelts save lives,

but some drivers don't get the message.

-The reason I stopped you is you drove without wearing a seatbelt.

-No, I didn't.

-Yes, you did.

And more bovine bother. Terrified and tired,

this Jersey cow's been trapped for at least 24 hours,

but how can animal rescue specialists get it out?

There has been a two-car smash on one of Southampton's busiest roads.

Two men are injured, and one of them is trapped.

Firefighters from Green Watch are on their way.

SIRENS BLARE It's 7:30 in the morning.

The Green Watch fire crew are heading to a car accident

on one of the main roads in and out of Southampton city centre.

-MAN:

-5-4 Papa 1 in attendance...

As they get close, the road is full of emergency vehicles.

One man is lying flat on the pavement being assessed by an ambulance crew.

The other driver is still trapped in his car by his injuries.

Nathan Glew was on his way to work when the crash happened.

Despite his injuries, he's reluctant to see his beloved car cut apart.

Unfortunately, the best bet for you is for us to take the roof off

and get you out onto a longboard. To protect your neck, yeah?

Yeah, you're more important than the car. You can't be replaced, but it can.

The other car has hit a lamppost hard enough for it now to be leaning at an alarming angle.

Yeah, absolutely, Steve, absolutely.

The ambulance crew have already put a collar round Nathan's neck,

and one of them has climbed inside the car to hold his head still

and in line with his spine.

Crewe manager Steve Evans outlines his plan to get Nathan out.

I think take the whole lot off is going to be the best bet.

'The car roof will have to go.'

-MAN:

-So the whole lot.

There's going to be a lot of broken glass around.

But the blue sheets will stop it from flying about

and will protect Nathan.

Cut it!

The powerful Jaws of Life make short work of slicing through

the car posts.

It's a noisy, frightening experience for Nathan.

The ambulance crew help him cope with his physical pain,

but he's also got to watch his pride and joy being dismantled.

The other driver has now been collared and put onto a longboard,

in case he also has neck or back injuries.

He'll be taken to A&E for X-rays and a full check-out.

Nathan's mum, Carol, has now arrived at the scene.

Seeing her son still in the wrecked car, surrounded by emergency workers,

is very distressing.

'Lots of blue lights.'

Lots of police cars and lots of firemen, ambulances.

And panic really set in then,

thinking it was really a serious accident.

-MAN:

-Three, two, one, lift.

Nathan is still conscious.

The ambulance crew continue to monitor him.

'It is really scary.'

You know you're in good hands, but you still panic.

Now that the car roof is out of the way,

they can manoeuvre the longboard down behind Nathan's back.

-MAN:

-On three. One, two, three.

Nathan's neck and back must be kept absolutely straight

as they move him onto the board.

'I know he gets a bit panic-stricken when he's restricted.

'He's a bit claustrophobic.'

So I was really worried about that,

thinking, "He's going to panic in a minute."

It's quite a scary thing,

to be immobilised like that.

You've got straps all around you, you're on a board, you can't move.

Lots of people around you in uniform,

and it's a bit upsetting, but I'm sure he'll be absolutely fine.

Nathan will be taken into A&E, where he'll be X-rayed

and his injuries thoroughly assessed.

Once Carol has gathered up Nathan's belongings,

she can make her way to be by his side at the hospital.

The wreckage of both cars has to be cleared away.

And there's just one job left for the fire crew.

There's no hope of saving the lamppost.

Well, Nathan and Greg have both made a full recovery.

Now, call centres like this are used to taking thousands upon thousands of calls

from people that find themselves in trouble.

So they're ideal centres for recognising trends,

especially in scams.

Hopefully, Karly can tell me. Yes, you can talk to me, excellent.

You've noticed a pattern very recently, especially in the world of scams.

Oh, yes, it's what we're calling the digital switchover scam.

-Right.

-Basically, obviously the digital switchover is happening

in the area at the moment,

and people are getting phone calls and cold call visits to their homes

from people, officials, purporting that they're from a different company.

-Saying they can help with the switchover?

-Yeah, exactly.

Offering their services and different equipment.

They're taking payments over the phone, by card or cash up-front,

saying that they'll come back with goods or services.

-And never turning up?

-No.

Now, obviously, modern technology opens up a whole world of nightmares

suddenly for people, doesn't it?

Especially with computers. There's a new one you've noticed.

There is, yeah. It's sort of coming in trends.

This one is actually where people are using their home computers

and messages flashing up, saying that there's a virus

and the need to contact this number, or they're getting a phone call

from an official, again saying that they're from a certain company.

So the person is letting them in with their log-in details,

watching them do things over the computer, thinking it's being fixed.

Giving them their account details as well.

So this official is taking money from their accounts

and also planting a virus on that computer

so the victim is left with less money and a virus on their computer.

Terrible. Karly, thank you. Frightening stuff.

We've got another one for you as well.

We'd all like to win the lottery, wouldn't we?

And some people are receiving letters saying they've won the lottery, Bev, aren't they?

That's right, and they could be coming from anywhere.

It could be in Europe or in Britain.

They're receiving these letters stating that they've won

lots and lots of money

and that they need to give their bank details and personal details

to actually gain that.

-To be given the million pounds or whatever?

-Yes.

-So what happens then?

They're giving out their personal details or bank details,

but they don't get to see the money.

And are they then taking money out of their accounts?

Their accounts can then be used, because people have then got their personal details.

Oh, dear, so what's your advice?

Because it's really tempting, you get a letter through the post

saying you've won thousands of pounds. What do you do?

It is. But then I always believe that if it is too good to be true...

-It probably is.

-Then it probably is.

And if anything suspicious like that happens,

then the advice is to dial 101 and speak to your local police force.

And that also helps, because then you guys know if there's a pattern

-and you can do something about it.

-We can identify patterns, yes.

-Bev, thank you.

-You're welcome.

Jersey cattle are known not only for their rich milk

but also for their inquisitive nature.

And that's got one young bullock into trouble.

It strayed from the herd and ended up in a ditch.

It's stuck fast and doesn't stand a chance of getting out alive

without the help of the experts.

It's a late winter's afternoon.

Hampshire animal rescue specialists have a difficult job on their hands.

A Jersey cow is in a desperate situation.

After escaping from its field, it stumbled into a deep, muddy ditch.

In an attempt to get free,

the one-ton animal has only managed to get stuck even deeper in the mud.

One day on, cold and exhausted, it's submerged up to the neck.

Luckily, two walkers spotted the stranded animal

and phoned the emergency services.

The scenario we were faced with when we got there

was a beautiful-looking jersey cow -

very subdued, very tired, it's been in the ditch probably a day or two -

and that's the most dangerous scenario we can face,

because they look completely placid and they're not going to react,

but they can cause firefighters an awful lot of damage.

They've called for a vet to sedate the cow.

In the meantime, Buster Brown and fellow animal specialist Jim Green

plan to fit a head collar and use a manual technique to keep it calm.

We pinched the animal's nose really tight.

That produces endorphins in its system which gives the animal

a calming effect. It creates a natural sedation in the animal.

It's now dark, the vet's arrived and he quickly administers the sedative.

Even so, the Jersey cow is so large and powerful,

there are still risks for the firefighters.

All firefighters have to wear a safety harness,

so had the bull suddenly kicked off, the fireman can be dragged out by the other fireman.

The team go to great lengths to ensure the safety of the animal as well.

It's time to get very muddy -

the fire crews need to pass two lifting strops down, under

and up the other side of the bullock's stomach.

It's not an easy job.

The bullock had stirred up the clay and the water

and made it into a very thick, binding soup, if you like,

that made it very difficult for us to pass our two strops under,

basically, nearly a ton weight.

The metal strop guides they normally use

don't work properly in the milky clay.

The rescuers are going to have to get really stuck in.

The firemen had to dig by hand along the animal's body

till they could feel the other fireman's hand from the other side

to pass the stops to each other.

-Yeah, that's my hand there.

-Is that your hand? All right.

It's an unconventional way that we had to do it,

but sometimes you have to use unconventional methods to rescue animals.

These sedated cow is behaving well.

The team have worked extremely hard to dig out the mud by hand.

They've now successfully got both strops in place.

We had to make sure we didn't trap the animal's limbs,

so you have to place them into what we call the natural hollows,

which is in the, like, bellybutton area

and right under their front armpits, so it's something we won't rush.

It has to be done correctly.

The cow is all set for being hauled out.

Buster has already secured the use of a vehicle perfectly suited for the job.

We called on the help of a local farmer

to bring over his telehandler - a tractor with an extendable boom -

to enable us to actually lift and drag the cow out of the ditch.

It's taken over an hour of hard graft

to prepare the large animal for the lift,

but all that work has paid off, and the animal is safely out in seconds.

The animal was very heavily sedated and initially didn't want to get up.

But within about five minutes,

assessing his own situation that it was in,

it was able to roll itself onto its belly, and its head was up,

it was looking a lot brighter,

and within about 30 minutes, it was able to stand up and walk away.

It's going to take quite a while to get cleaned up,

but it's a very satisfying outcome for what was a tricky rescue.

Another good job - difficult, but the end result is that the animal was viable

and nobody got injured, and that's the important thing.

Now, do you remember the slogan, "Clunk, click - every trip"?

Well, if you don't, here it is again.

It's very likely that 400 of you

will be injured in your cars tomorrow.

You will be within six miles of home and doing less than 30.

And it's going to happen to a lot of you ladies.

You'll be shopping, collecting the kids, going to the launderette.

For some of you, the face you start out with in the morning

won't be the same face you end up with by the evening.

Why let it happen?

Clunk, click. It's so simple.

Clunk the car door,

click the seatbelt.

Even if you are just going round corner,

clunk, click - every trip.

Yes, that was the late Sir Jimmy Savile telling us

to belt up back in the 1970s.

It was a campaign which saved thousands of lives.

Wearing a seatbelt was made compulsory In 1983,

but unbelievably, it's estimated around 300 people die every year

because they don't clunk, click.

It's Seatbelt Safety Week, and, nationwide, police are uniting

in a zero-tolerance approach to driving without a seatbelt.

PC Andy Smith is on the roads of East Sussex.

We will issue them a fine of £60 for no seatbelt

as a reminder that they should be putting it on,

and that fine is obviously educational

as well, because it will make them think twice

next time they drive and they will put it on, hopefully.

I want to speak to you, because you're not wearing your seatbelts.

No, you weren't. I've just seen you on the roundabout

and followed you all the way in here.

But you could see it hanging vertically down the side of the car,

so I don't believe you were wearing your seatbelt.

Well, I'll report you for it and issue you with a fine for not wearing a seatbelt.

Well, we'd have to contest it in court,

but I've just followed you from the roundabout round there,

and my colleague's the same, sitting behind you,

and it's on camera as well, so...

If you were wearing it, how were you wearing it?

Jump in and show us how you were wearing it.

Well, then, you weren't wearing it, I'm pretty convinced of that.

Have you got your driving licence on you at all?

OK, is it your car?

It explains on the back of your ticket that

if you accept what's happening today, you have 28 days to pay the fine.

Send a cheque or postal order into the address below

or pay by card over the phone.

Make sure you do it within 28 days whatever you do, OK?

If you wish to contest the matter, you send the form in,

and it basically goes to court, and they decide

whether you were guilty of the offence or not, OK?

There you go. Ta-ta.

-Another satisfied customer.

-Yeah.

We all sat there and saw the same thing.

We were driving behind and could clearly see it hanging vertically down from behind.

You know, when asked if she wanted to get back into the car

and show us exactly how she did wear it, she said she hasn't got time.

Traffic PC Shelley Marder knows all too well

how wearing a seatbelt makes a huge difference.

If you see what we see in accidents

and you'd just think if someone had buckled up,

it could have saved their life. It's just not worth it

for a simple two-second movement of clipping on your seatbelt.

The amount of people that still don't do it is unbelievable.

And the offenders don't always appreciate advice from the police.

Hello, driver. Thank you very much for stopping for me.

The reason why I stopped you is you drove past not wearing a seatbelt.

-No, I didn't.

-Yes, you did. Your seatbelt was hanging down on the side.

-I saw it as you drove past me.

-No, I didn't. No, I did not.

OK, well, that's fair enough if that's what you want to say,

but I'm still going to issue you a ticket, cos I have seen you and so as my colleague in the car.

This driver will receive a £60 fine

to be paid within 28 days.

You weren't wearing your seatbelt as you came down the road there.

-All right.

-Yeah, your driver was, strangely enough, but...

-I wasn't.

Passengers can also be prosecuted for not wearing a seatbelt.

-Any reason why that was?

-My own fault. I completely forgot.

Forgot, did you? OK. What I'm going to do

is report you for not wearing a seatbelt.

It's non-endorsable, so it doesn't put points on your licence or anything.

That's good. I don't need any of those.

I mean, I can see the importance of it, you know.

Everyone should wear seatbelts - accidents do happen,

and safety is best, isn't it? So next time, I'll wear my seatbelt.

Now, Shelley, when you were doing that campaign, were you surprised

by the amount of people who still weren't wearing seatbelts?

Yeah, I mean, during that campaign, there was nearly 600 people

not wearing their seatbelts, including children,

and that was in a one-week campaign.

And what sort of excuses do people give to you?

All sorts of excuses ranging from, "I've just popped out, I didn't put my seatbelt on,"

"I've just come from the shops," "I don't want to ruin my outfit" -

men don't want to crease their shirts, women don't want to ruin their dresses sort of thing.

Even people clip them in behind them.

OK, so being clear - you have to wear them,

and if you don't, what sort of fines do you get?

It's a £60 fine for not wearing your seatbelt,

and if obviously your child is unrestrained in the back,

the driver will also receive a £60 fine for the child not wearing a seatbelt.

OK, thanks, Shelley. Well, funnily enough,

while we were out filming that report on seatbelts,

PC Andy Smith pulled over a man who had quite an excuse

for using his mobile phone while driving.

We just stopped in for a mobile phone offence,

cos we'd seen him on his mobile phone.

When we asked him, "Was it an emergency call?" he said,

"Yes, it was an emergency," cos he was phoning the local magistrates court.

He's basically due in court this morning for a mobile phone offence,

so he's running late. He said he's got three points already,

he's about to get another three today, and then, obviously,

we've just stopped him again, so he's now up to nine points.

He's only got another three points until he loses his licence.

So, let's just recap that, shall we?

That a man was using his phone to let the court know

he was running late for a court hearing

where he was facing charges of phoning while driving.

Shelley, you just couldn't make it up, could you?

The excuses some people give you as to why they use their phone

is just unbelievable, and things like that just show you.

-What do you say to them?

-Just pull over.

It takes two seconds to pull over and to make a phone call,

and you don't risk £60 and three points or even losing your licence.

-Or even injuring somebody.

-Or injuring someone else, yeah.

-Shelley, thank you.

-That's OK.

Paramedic Kelly Wells is on her way to treat a motorcycling enthusiast

who has been knocked off his bike. He needs emergency treatment

and so does his classic 1967 motorcycle.

Just ten minutes after waving goodbye to his wife, Dee,

Chris Anderson is lying injured on the pavement

just 400m up the road from his home.

What's your name?

Chris. What happened, Chris?

What car was it?

His motorbike has gone straight into a car

reversing out from behind a van.

Who was driving it?

OK. Did you fall off the bike?

You've gone over the top?

There's clearly been quite an impact.

Chris is in too much pain to move one of his legs.

It was caught between the bike and the car before he was catapulted over the handlebars.

You were wearing your helmet, obviously.

Can I see if there was any damage to your helmet?

There's a little bit. Right, let me just... Two seconds.

Keep your head still for me, OK? All you need to do is, you've had what we call a mechanism injury,

so we need to suspect that you might have hurt your neck, OK?

So what we need to do is we need to collar and board you.

That involves putting you on a long board

and putting some straps round your head and a collar around your neck.

Yeah, can I have some back-up at this job, please?

Kerry must prioritise protecting his neck and upper spine.

Put your hand where my hand is now and then obviously try to keep his neck is still as possible, yeah?

-Happy with that? Got him?

-Yeah.

-OK. That's all right.

There's a nice policeman behind you holding onto your head, all right?

Yeah. I won't let go.

But it's his leg which is bothering Chris most.

Nice and...still for me.

Lovely. That's it.

And where does it hurt?

So, kind of, the lower leg. OK.

Right, this might be the bit that's going to hurt.

Oh, yeah. OK.

I'm just going to put a dressing over that, OK?

He's got plenty of layers of clothes on,

but it's not enough to protect his leg.

He suffered a very nasty cut above the knee, six inches wide

and so deep it goes through his tendon almost to the kneecap.

We can get you some gas and air for the time being, OK?

Are you sure? I can get you some.

With such a deep, wide wound, Chris must be running on adrenaline to refuse pain relief.

Other than the knee here,

he's got a small cut just here in the sort of shin area.

Does the back all feel all right?

Yeah?

Chris started motorbike scrambling when he was just seven years old.

In 40 years of biking, this is only his second serious accident.

To add to his woes, Thumper, his beloved bike,

is also looking rather bent and buckled.

We're going to strap you to it, OK, and there'll be a couple of blankets each side of your head.

The crew are going to scoop him up off the ground.

We'll have to slowly lay you down, OK? I've got your neck.

Just nice and slow. I've got you. So just relax into my arms.

That's it, lovely. This is going to be a bit cold.

Just mind his leg.

They ease him gently into place.

Oh, I've cut that sock off. You can probably just throw it out.

She can sew it up?!

Chris may be joking, but it's his leg that's in urgent need of stitching, not his sock.

Everybody ready on three? One, two, three, lift.

That's it. There we go, Chris.

Patient number one safely dispatched.

Thank you. Bye-bye, bye-bye.

Kerry's now off to check on the car driver who's at home

but feeling shocked after the collision.

Chris was discharged from hospital on the same day as the accident.

He's having physio on his knee,

and the good news is his motorcycle's on the mend too.

Well, thank goodness for that. That's it for Real Rescues.

-See you next time.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd