Episode 19 Real Rescues

Today, swept down a river in his car. The driver's keeping calm, but is in grave danger.

And a Jack Russell has fallen down a steep bank. One false move and she may crash onto rocks 50 feet below.

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues. Today we are at the Police Contact Centre in Lewes.

Sussex has over 80 miles of coast.

Today we're featuring some dramatic rescues at sea and on the rivers.

This room is the first point of call for all sorts of emergencies, but it's not just calls.

Emails and texts reporting non-emergency crimes also come in at a rate of more than 200 a day.

-Donovan's looking at those.

-Hello.

-You get lots of emails and texts. What kind of things?

-Well, em,

for instance, one time we've had a lady text us to say that she was going into labour.

-Right. Probably not the most appropriate thing to do.

-No, no.

-We also had someone emailing to say they were being burgled.

-OK.

-At the time.

-In both of those cases, should they have done that?

-No. We think they should really ring 999.

-They need an immediate response.

-That's the guide, yeah.

And our favourite email here is the one about the distressed sheep that they thought we should assist.

-I don't really know what they expected us to do.

-Right, OK. But you do look at them all?

-Yes.

-They're all actioned as soon as we receive them. 21st century...

-That's the way it has to be.

OK, Donovan, thank you.

Thanks, Lou. Go to any seaside resort and you can buy an airbed or a blow-up dinghy for under 20 quid.

Used properly in sheltered water they can provide hours of fun,

but a strong tide or offshore wind can easily pull them off-course, leading to a full-scale emergency.

It's five o'clock in Porthcawl, South Wales.

Helmsman Alex Denny has launched the RNLI ribbed boat down the slipway.

A 12-year-old boy has been swept out to sea on an inflatable dinghy.

The lifeboat crew need to get to him quickly. Alex guns the motor to maximum power.

They're now travelling at 40mph on the choppy surface.

12-year-old Michael had ventured into the water unaware of a strong offshore wind

and within seconds was pushed out of his depth.

But there's now a heart-stopping moment for the family and crew.

The news has come through that Michael has made a life-threatening decision.

He's leapt from the dinghy into the sea.

There's even more pressure to find the boy quickly.

Chris Missen at the back of the boat radios Control to help pinpoint Michael's location.

With new information, he rushes forward to let Alex know the way.

Once again, Alex powers the boat at full throttle.

They've been told Michael can swim, but he's never been out of his depth before

and it's a cold, energy-sapping sea.

The family are watching from the shore. They're determined to keep him in sight.

They feed directions to Coastguard Control, who pass them straight to the boat.

At first, the crew can just make out a small, dark shape bobbing in the water ahead.

It's Michael. They've found him.

It's taking all his strength to keep his head above water.

Cold and exhausted, as soon as he's pulled out on board, he momentarily falls unconscious.

Alex starts the journey back to base.

It's been a close call for Michael.

He might not have lasted much longer in the cold sea water.

An ambulance is already waiting to meet him at the lifeboat station.

For the RNLI crew, it's another life saved.

It's great to see Mike, Pete and Sam with us here.

-I'll come to you first. Are you fit and well now?

-Yeah, I'm fine.

-Yeah?

-Feeling good?

-Yeah.

-It must have been a traumatic time.

-Extremely.

Yeah, just paint the picture for us. When we think about a little lad in a dinghy,

come on, Dad, you could have waded in and got the dinghy! But it all happened so quickly.

Yeah, we'd been on the beach trying to fly the kites. There was no wind at all.

Pete went down with the dinghy into the water,

had a little paddle round, brought it back in. Mike had a go.

And within the space of Mike getting in, us sitting down to eat,

he just took off in it.

One minute you were paddling around, then you were whizzing out there.

-Yeah.

-Could you sense how quickly it was all happening?

-Yeah.

-It was going pretty fast.

-Yeah. And could you hear Mum, Sam and your brother going, "Come back!"?

Eh, for a little bit and then it just stopped. You couldn't hear them any more.

And then...emergency! This is a serious situation.

-You start running up and down the coast?

-To see where he was.

Then I rang the coastguard And I was, like, panicking,

telling him to hurry up, my brother's drowning. Yeah.

I know it's an emotional time, but it's a good time because we can celebrate you're here safely.

Now the danger point and the time we start sensing panic

is when, quite understandably, Mike thinks, "I've got to get out." And he jumps out.

-Then you really start to panic.

-Yeah. Well, at that point all you could see was Mike in the water.

I don't know how far out he was, 400, 500 yards out. I could just see his head, then it'd disappear.

-The waves were going over his head.

-Thankfully, you kept seeing him.

-Yeah, I'd see his head every minute.

I was telling the coastguard to tell them where to go.

-And then the lifeboat people found him, dragged you out. Do you remember being dragged out?

-Yeah.

-They did a great job, the crew.

-Absolutely. We went to the station

and they said when they picked him out of the water he had a couple of minutes at most left

to tread on water before he'd have struggled.

So we can't thank them and the job they do enough.

And to think that they volunteer to do that job is unbelievable.

-Amazing men and women.

-You've been raising money?

-Yeah, I ran the London marathon

to try and help them a little bit.

It can never repay what they've done for us, keeping Mike safe.

-It's a small thing.

-I heard he took a bit of time, though. Six hours?

-Yeah, something like that.

-Dodgy hamstring, he said.

-My excuse!

Well done, you. And keep yourself safe.

From an open sea rescue to an inland water emergency.

The River Neb flows through the Isle of Man out to the Irish Sea.

Visitors to its banks can expect to see salmon, sea trout and the odd heron. A different sight, though,

met rescuers after a woman made this 999 call about her father-in-law.

So the call taker has to find out if there's more than one person in the car. She calls the driver.

HORN BEEPS

Well, here he is, Alf Omar and Tony Duncan, who went to rescue him.

Alf, we can look at the pictures of what happened. You weren't under just a couple of inches of water.

-Where did it come up to?

-About eighth of the way up the car.

-All the way up?

-About an eighth.

Amazing, in fact, that the horn worked. It was under the bonnet.

-So what happened? You were driving through somewhere you'd been before.

-That's right.

-What happened?

I just went down. I knew the water was going a bit quick.

But it were too late. It had just whisked the back end round.

-And I were going down t'river!

-Were you trying to steer?

-A bit. But I was just spinning round!

-Gosh!

Fast-flowing river.

It was a swift water rescue. It was a good flow.

-Obviously, the water levels had gone right up.

-So what were your priorities?

Basically, we were sent from Douglas Fire Station. There were already crews from Peel Fire Station

which had arrived, located Mr Omar and his vehicle in the river. They gave us a more precise location.

-Obviously where he'd gone down...

-How far had it gone?

-The best part of 400 metres downstream

-from where he originally went in across the ford.

-400 metres!

I didn't know how far I'd gone I knew I'd gone a fair way!

-I know that you tied ropes to the car.

-Yes.

-To make it secure.

-Yes.

When we got in attendance, Peel crews had already made the vehicle safe

by securing a line across the river and then it was us turning up, securing Mr Omar,

making sure he was safe in the vehicle, securing the vehicle

and Mr Omar was able to balance himself on his stick and use that to aid his way out of the river

with us obviously securing him and making sure he was safe as we moved across to the riverbank.

-Quite an adventure for a day out!

-It were that!

-Tell me about the car. Did it get out the river?

I got it out of t'river, the farmer got it out and it's waiting to go to the graveyard.

It's going to go to the graveyard? Oh, I'm sorry. I'm glad you're OK! Thanks for coming to see us.

All right.

Now a walk with the family dog has turned into an emergency.

A Jack Russell has fallen down a steep bank. Directly below is a 50-foot drop onto the rocks.

A crowd has gathered and the coastguard must reach the dog before an onlooker attempts a rescue.

Lucy, an 11-year-old Jack Russell, is stuck in a very dangerous place.

She can't move up or down. The dog ended up in this predicament after chasing after a rabbit

during a walk on Rocky Island in Northumberland.

Now Lucy is 30 feet down a cliff edge, stuck in brambles.

One false move and she could fall down another 50 feet onto the rocks below.

Although Lucy seems unaware of the danger, she's drawn quite a crowd on the bridge above.

Her only hope of survival lies with the local coastguard rescue team.

John Whitehall is going to lower himself down the cliff on ropes to try to pluck Lucy to safety.

But Lucy's none too keen on this stranger getting up close to her.

She's doing her best to get away from him, which could be disastrous.

Lucy, stay!

Lucy...stay!

Stay, Lucy.

Thankfully, her owner's words of encouragement do the trick.

Lucy stays perched long enough for John to grab hold of her.

It's not a dignified way to get out of this tricky situation,

but Lucy's not putting up a fight.

And in less than a minute, John's got her inside a bag, much to the delight of the crowd.

APPLAUSE

Once back up the cliff, Lucy's owners are overjoyed at having her back with them.

We haven't got Lucy, but we've got John here, who rescued Lucy there.

Well done, sir. Is that your first rescue in front of a big crowd?

-I think it probably is, yes.

-It's a weird sort of thing.

Everybody's watching you, every single move you made.

-Did that make it extra nerve-racking?

-It did. It puts you under more pressure.

It was a really hot Saturday afternoon outside a pub which was full. Everybody came from the pub.

-So it does put you under enormous pressure.

-You were great viewing.

What were you more scared of? The dog moving away from you?

You could see when you first approached, she wanted to move away.

I think so. Because you didn't want the dog to move any further along because of where we'd come down.

You would be traversing along a cliff if you were chasing the dog. You just don't want to do it.

And obviously you only had a foot or so and then she'd have been over the top and 20-25 foot.

-I've got to say, you must have a head for heights.

-Yes.

-Of course, you are a volunteer.

-What do you do full-time?

-I install TV systems and satellite systems.

-So you're up a ladder, you're always used to being up high.

-Yeah. Height is not a problem.

-OK, the bag question. It wasn't very dignified for poor old Lucy. This is the bag you used.

-It was.

It says "animal bag" there. Can you see that?

-But you've moved on since then.

-We have.

-What have you got here?

This baby.

The coastguard are rolling out new equipment all the time.

It's much superior to what we've ever had and this is now a dedicated animal bag,

-which as you can see...

-You'd get a Doberman in there!

You probably would. It's got a zip top on, so once your animal's in,

-there's no fear of it coming out.

-No.

-And it's designed to hook on to your equipment

so you're not physically holding the dog. It's fastened on to you.

And you're both pulled up together. I tell you something, Lou, this is a real doggie bag.

It's lunchtime. Fire engines from two stations in Southampton are heading to a house fire

-in a residential area.

-At the first roundabout, turn right.

The Green Watch crew from St Mary's arrive at the street to find the air thick with smoke.

Five Four Poppa One in attendance, over.

The priority is more water and fast. Smoke is spreading all over the house.

A crew from nearby Redbridge station are already on the scene.

Two of their crew are inside.

-Basically, what we've got is a fire in the garage, which is converted into a room.

-OK.

I've sent them into the kitchen. They've taken a right. The woman says there's no petrol in there.

But the garage is crammed full of very combustible materials, plenty to feed the flames.

Adam, get some tools off. We're going to get that door open.

Once the door's open, there is plasterboard behind it. Rip it out.

Over the radio, an update comes through from the fire fighters inside.

-It's well alive in the garage.

-Want to look at level two?

-Yeah, tell them to sit tight...

The plan is to keep the fire just where it is. Using a fan inside,

they'll push the dangerous super-heated gases away from the house,

but the smoke needs a way out. Adam Bundle and Mark Caplan are working quickly.

When using the fan, you are pushing a lot of air into that compartment,

which can dramatically increase the size of the fire. You need everything in place to make it safe.

It can be very dangerous if done badly.

The lintel of the garage is bowed. There's a risk the brick wall could collapse as well.

And there's news of another potential hazard inside the house - a liquid propane gas cylinder.

The crew have been told it's empty, but even a small amount of gas could pose a risk of explosion.

He's informed me there's an empty Calor gas cylinder on the landing.

-Right, OK.

-If they can get to it safely, and remove it, just get it out.

They've made it through the garage door. Behind the smoke, the flames are burning fiercely.

Inside and out, fire crews are training water onto the garage

to stop the blaze spreading to the house.

Just looking at the roof.

The fire is creating so much pressure that smoke is seeping out between the bricks.

They need to send a crew up to look.

Make sure the loft has not got anything affected. I want to confirm the loft is not affected.

Just so you're aware, they're retrieving the LPG and they'll check the roof space.

The smoke is now so thick, even the crew working outside need breathing apparatus.

Adam, get yourself a set. Get yourself a set, Mark!

But one of the dangers is over. They retrieved the cylinder.

They're managing to keep the fire confined to the garage extension,

-but suddenly the ventilation causes the flames to leap up.

-Has it broken through the top?

We've got white smoke appearing on the rear elevation, but we have got black smoke and flames

appearing from the gable end.

The fire crews have to step up the battle. The flames are now right up against the wall

dividing the garage roof space from the loft.

We need the teams outside that door to stop the fire coming in.

-We've got a team on the first floor.

-No, they're in the lounge, but I can send them up.

-Loft hatch.

Open it up, with a jet.

'For the guys that were inside, it would have been quite hot.'

It was a hot day anyway and to be in a developed fire, it can get up to serious temperatures

and quickly saps you of energy.

They're still working in clouds of smoke. It's turning lighter in colour,

telling the fire crews they are getting on top of the flames, but there are still dangers.

Access via the side is now too dangerous. We've got tiles slipping off the roof.

The tiles from the garage roof are falling off, so Adam and Mark get to work stripping them back.

Small fires are still bursting out, but the crews are successfully keeping them confined to the garage.

Just charred timbers remain in the garage, but this fire can reignite at any moment.

The aerial platform moves into position. It's there in case the crew identify any hotspots,

areas which could later ignite.

Because of the roof tiles, it traps a lot of heat. We need to watch it.

It's still reigniting, so it's not out as such.

But the main danger is over. It's taken just 15 minutes to stop this fire in its tracks.

We were happy with the stop.

We managed to get it under control quite quickly. It didn't spread to the rest of the house. Good result.

We were always going to lose the garage, but we didn't affect the house too much.

It's now for the Fire Investigation team to discover what caused it.

Early indications are it was an electrical fault.

On Real Rescues we're used to bringing you good news stories and sometimes bad news is good.

-Confused? Well, you won't be. Let's see if I can chat to James.

-Hello, Chris.

You had a call from a rather distressed gentleman. What happened?

A chap had attended hospital to see his daughter.

He already had quite a lot on his mind, but when he came out, his car was missing.

-He thinks it's stolen, he rings you.

-Absolutely. Called us up. We did some checks, took his details,

-ran the registration through. We discovered we were already aware of the situation.

-It was stolen?

-No!

That was the good thing. The car had come to our attention because it had actually rolled down the road,

collided with another vehicle and was now blocking the roads.

It had been towed and been recovered safely,

-but the good thing for him was it was actually still his and it hadn't been stolen.

-What happened?

-He'd left the handbrake off.

-Right. Simple as that.

-The poor guy was just a bit wound up with everything going on.

-What did he say when you said, "Yes,

-"it's been in a bit of a crash"?

-He went from the most devastated person to the most relieved.

There you are. "Well done, sir. Your car has been found. It's smashed up." "Brilliant!"

-Thanks, James.

-No problem.

When it comes to the safety of young children, the emergency services take no chances.

Ambulance technician Jamie Stubbington has just received a worrying emergency call.

We got a treble nine call to a three-car RTA. According to Control, we've a 12-year-old girl

with central neck pain and can't move out of the car.

The injured girl is in the Vauxhall at the front of a three-car shunt.

At the time of the impact, she was sitting in the rear seat and now has pain in her back.

What's your name again? Summer? That's a nice name, isn't it? My name's Bertie Bassett. No, Jamie.

She's complaining of pins and needles both sides of the spine.

Without letting on to her, the team discuss whether Summer will have to be cut out of the car.

I think we'll have to.

-Mum and Dad...

-Yes.

-Because of the way she's complaining of her pain and of pins and needles,

-we're just not going to take any chances.

-OK.

-So we'll have to get the Brigade and lose the car roof.

-It's a Mobility car.

-Is it? Do you know what I mean?

-If it has to be...

-She's complaining of pins and needles in her hands. It might be nothing,

but we can't X-ray her and we'd rather be safe than sorry.

If it's just nothing and just the way she's feeling, you can replace the car, but not your daughter.

The Mobility car is usually used for Summer's disabled grandfather,

but today her need is greater and the fire crews have to be sent for.

The experience of being extricated from a car can be daunting for an adult, let alone a 12-year-old.

The team will have to soft pedal every stage of the process.

First, they need to fit a protective neck collar.

Say to Mummy when you go to hospital that you need sweets to feel better. She's a bit worried about you.

She'll give you anything!

-How does that feel? Does that feel really strange?

-Yeah.

-Does it?

And how old are you now?

-12.

-12?

Wow!

I was 12 once.

About 500 years ago.

-I don't believe that.

-Don't you?

With the arrival of the Fire Brigade, one lane is coned off

to allow space for the eight-strong crew to start work on the car.

Jamie and emergency care practitioner Mark will sit in the car with Summer

and keep up the patter to distract her...

Just keep nice and still for us, Summer. You're doing ever so well.

..while the fire crews use powerful hydraulic cutting tools to remove the roof from around them.

Reaching the end of their well-drilled routine, the fire crews prepare to lift the roof.

Here we go. Look at that. Instant convertible.

Summer's now out in the open, but not out of trouble.

Summer, what we're going to do is get a spinal board behind your back.

It's like a big ironing board.

OK? And we're going to hold on to you and grab you all up and down your body and slide you onto it.

And then strap you in position. All right? Nothing to worry about.

-You've done really well so far.

-Will it hurt?

-No, not at all.

For Summer, this has turned into an eventful lift home from school.

You all right, Summer?

-The board's coming down behind you now.

-I'm touching the bottom of the seat.

-Lay back against it.

Taking great care to keep her spine straight at all times,

the team uses many hands to spring Summer from the car.

One, two, three, lift. There we go, Summer.

And can we go again? One, two, three, lift.

-Put the board down.

-Drop the board gently. Perfect.

We'll try to go to horizontal.

Summer's safely out of the car, much to everyone's relief.

Fantastic.

-Is Mum all right?

-Yeah, she sort of fainted, so I sat her up.

-All right?

-We'll get you on the ambulance now and give you a check over. Still hot?

-Yes.

-OK, take a deep breath.

OK.

Seeing their daughter at the centre of this amount of medical attention has been an uncomfortable watch.

Mum will also go in the ambulance to the Emergency Department at Southampton General Hospital

where doctors will thoroughly check Summer for any sign of serious injury.

Well, Summer is back home, but is still in pain and Mum's new Mobility car is on order

and arrives very soon. We wish them well. I want to chat with Jo who is on the email desk.

-Can I disturb you?

-Yeah.

-You had a call from a father really concerned about his son.

He called us to say that his estranged wife, who was from a different country,

was kidnapping his son, taking him to the country she was from originally.

-You can't take a child out of the country without the parent's permission?

-Of both parents.

-So quite an urgent situation.

-Yes. And he said she was doing it now, so we literally had 15 minutes.

-So you found out... He knew the flight?

-Yeah, he knew, so we had to phone up Gatwick to check.

-And they were?

-They were on it. And it was on the tarmac,

-so everyone was boarded and it was about to take off.

-So what do you do?

-Scary!

But we phoned the inspectors and they gave permission to stop the flight.

And they did, they stopped it. She was arrested, but the child was safe.

-Not something that you would do lightly, is it?

-No, because obviously the flight is full.

-It's pretty scary.

-And they didn't go.

-They didn't go.

-OK, quick action, isn't it?

-Yeah!

-Jo, thank you.

-That's OK.

Getting people to hospital has been constantly improving ever since the days of the horse and cart.

Nowadays, ambulances can almost double up as mobile A&E units.

But there are even more hi-tech designs being dreamt up.

It's not very often that a paramedic gets to design their own ambulance,

but this is a prototype in the Design Museum and the people who designed it are here -

Dixie the paramedic and Gianpaolo, an industrial designer.

Lots of changes you've made together. There's one key one here that you can show me.

Yeah. By observing how paramedics work, they access their equipment at different times.

For instance, the carry chair, at the moment they have to open the ambulance and go in to get it.

But now we've provided access form the outside as well. You don't have to open the ambulance.

You just open this door and take it.

Brilliant. And you've done that with their bags as well.

-Yeah.

-Dixie, show me round.

-Yes.

-You're proud of this ambulance.

-Yes, I am.

So, for starters, stretcher in the middle.

Now you have 360-degree access to the patient. In London at present the trolley bed is on the side.

You have to stretch across the patient to get access to your equipment, your consumables.

Having it in the middle is far better. You've got more access if you have paramedics or doctors on.

-You've got more room for everyone to deal with the patient.

-And if they're injured on a different side,

-it can have quite an impact to be squashed.

-That's right. To cannulate, I have to lean across.

Now I can just come here and do it. Better for the patient and for me.

One thing you notice immediately is this. What's this up here?

This is monitoring and diagnostic equipment with links to hospital.

Here we can monitor the patient, get his heart rate, oxygen saturation, blood pressure, ECG.

-Depending on where the patient is in the ambulance, we can bring the equipment to them.

-Brilliant.

-And that info goes straight to hospital.

-That's so much better.

At the moment you talk to Control who contact the hospital. Now everything goes straight there.

-They know the condition of the patient at all times.

-I know you changed their bags, didn't you?

And where they have their bags. Why was a change needed there?

Well, basically, at the moment the bag is there, and you take it into the house.

But if somebody has a cardiac arrest on board, we've taken key bits of equipment and put it in a cupboard

so that you have instant access. It makes it much quicker, much better for the patient.

I know you worked really hard on this. How soon before we can see one of these out on the streets?

That's the current challenge for the project. We need to get buy-in from NHS people

-and also from manufacturers. That's what we're working on.

-You got buy-in from the paramedics.

-How much difference did it make that you trialled it with them?

-That was essential.

With their input, we could alter and change through the iterations.

-At the beginning, we presented a project that wasn't liked by them.

-Oh, really?

-We took their feedback

and made a second one, and now the third, which they love.

OK. How much would you love to actually have this on the roads?

I'd really like it now.

-And it would make a big difference?

-Huge. All the people that took part in it are paramedics.

And it runs the way you like it. Gianpaolo, you did something special. This really proves, Dixie,

-that you were very much involved. Look, it's so sweet!

-A special licence plate.

-DIXI3. Thank you both for showing me round.

-Thank you.

-Thanks.

Earlier we heard how Alf Omar coped so well after his car was swept down a river as he crossed a ford.

This is not a rare event for the emergency services and it's not the first river rescue we've had.

Here's a driver who is terrified for her own life as water flowed into her vehicle.

Well, a pretty horrific phone call, but I should tell you that the lady in question was rescued

and she's now safe and sound. I've been joined by Chief Officer Brian Draper of Fire Rescue.

Pretty alarming stuff, but when we come across water, what should be going through our minds?

How deep should the water be before we say no?

Well, every circumstance is different and what you need to do is recognise the hazards involved

before you make the decision to drive through it.

Presenting a car at 90 degrees to fast-flowing water is completely different

from driving through static water, for example, so it depends on the depth, the speed of the water

and, in particular, the type of vehicle that you're driving.

-For myself, as a rule of thumb, if it's higher than the depth of my tyre, I wouldn't do it.

-Sure.

And if there's any doubt, don't go through. Find an alternate route.

OK, I've made the wrong decision. I'm now caught in water, the car is beginning to move.

We just heard that argument. Should I stay in the car or get out?

OK, the most important thing to do is think about the situation.

Every circumstance is going to be different, so there's no hard and fast rules to this.

There are some key things to do to help yourself. First and foremost, ring the emergency services,

or sound the horn of the car. Make it known you're in distress,

that the car has now left the road and is being carried down river.

Secondly, I would open a window

on the basis that a lot of cars now are electric throughout.

You don't know how long you'll have that power for. By opening at least one window,

that presents an emergency exit if for any reason the circumstances get really difficult

-and you have to escape.

-And people can hear you if you're shouting.

-Exactly.

-If you do get out, you've made that decision,

-is there any advice you can give us? Sometimes the water is so strong.

-Exactly. A couple of things.

You need to be very aware that if the car is grounded,

it's grounded including your weight.

In getting out of the car, you may reduce the weight sufficiently that it refloats.

Cars do float. So if you're with other passengers, one person getting out and leaving the vehicle

may cause it to refloat and continue on its journey.

Similarly, you need to think about getting out on the upstream side

because if getting out and off the vehicle does cause it to refloat,

you don't want it to trap you and potentially roll over you.

Plenty to think about. Let's hope none of us are caught in that.

That's fascinating. Really good advice. Paramedic Lloyd Day has been called to a man

who is fitting and foaming at the mouth. It's happened in a car and the patient can't be moved.

Paramedic Lloyd Day is working alone in the rapid response car when the call comes in.

We need to get there reasonably quickly because it could be a number of things causing it.

We need to get there and find out.

Fortunately, Alex wasn't driving the car when he became ill.

His daughter's partner John had just taken him to the cash point. Moments later, he started to convulse.

Alex?

Alex? Alex? Can you open your eyes?

But Alex is not responding.

Is Alex normally fit and well?

Is he on medication?

Has he ever had an episode like this before?

Is he diabetic or...?

Not epileptic?

He's stopped shaking now, but the fit lasted for about a minute.

Lloyd gives him oxygen to ease his breathing.

Just pop this mask round your face, Alex.

Can you open your eyes at all? Can you say hello to me at all?

The ambulance crew has arrived to take Alex to hospital. They need to get to the bottom of this.

He's not diabetic, BM's normal.

This gentleman says he might have had something similar

-some time ago.

-About six months ago.

-But you can't remember quite what they put that down to.

They'll use the stretcher to get Alex into the ambulance,

-but first they have to get him onto it.

-Alex?

Do you think we can step you out of the car for a minute? Can you swing your legs round for us?

See if we can get him either side and see if he'll stand up quickly.

But Alex isn't going to be able to help himself out. They'll have to use their long board as a bridge

between the car seat and stretcher.

- There we go, Alex. - Just helping you out the car.

OK? One, two, three.

-He must go on the board from there.

-One, two, three.

Can we have a little bit more slack with this?

-Are you ready to hold him just while I get this out?

-Go on.

Let go of that, my darling. Let go of the board.

It's an awkward manoeuvre. John lends a hand to remove the board once Alex is on the stretcher.

Once inside the ambulance, they're able to carry out more medical checks.

ECG seems normal now, does it?

-Feeling a bit better now, Alex?

-Yeah.

-Do you know where you are?

-Not at the moment, no.

-No, OK.

He's now making a recovery and we just need to get to the bottom of why he's had this unexplained fit.

The readings that we're taking are obviously fairly normal, but he'll need to go to hospital

just to get checked over.

Alex feels fine now and was soon back to his usual self.

-Doctors have run tests to find out what may have happened, but so far can't say what caused the fit.

-Ah.

-Well, that's it for Real Rescues. See you next time.

-Bye-bye.

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