Rescuers relive moorland drama

Heroes . . . (l-r) Sgt Dave Brennan with PCs Mark Clough and Dave Pickles. Not pictured is the fourth member Dave Bunting.

A brave team of police heroes have relived their dramatic rescue of an unconscious hiker stranded more than a thousand feet up on weather-beaten Saddleworth moor.

Officers from the Saddleworth and Lees Neighbourhood Policing Team in Uppermill were called in after force headquarters received an emergency call from a lone hiker stranded above Chew Valley.

The distressed 25-year-old man could only provide limited details of his whereabouts on the bleak landscape.

But with the help of a new police navigational tracking aid, Sergeant Dave Brennan and PCs Dave Pickles and Mark Clough, backed by Dave Bunting from the Volume Crime Team, were soon on the scene.

After negotiating rough terrain in a 4x4 police Land Rover, they found the hiker unconscious in a ditch three miles north-east of Chew reservoir.

Officers transported the man, who comes from the south of England, to an ambulance.

He was treated at the Royal Oldham Hospital and later discharged after making a full recovery.

Sgt Brennan said: “If it wasn’t for the quick response of the Neighbourhood Policing Team the situation could have been far worse.

“The paramedics said that if he had been left overnight he may have died of exposure.

“Conditions at the scene were worsening in the failing light and it was essential we got the man off the moors.”

PC Mark Clough, who covered the hiker with colleague Dave Pickles’s waterproof coat, said: “The man was in a bad way. He was very cold and we needed to keep him warm.”

Sgt Brennan reminded hikers to take necessary precautions if they were planning treks across the isolated moorland.

He said: “Please inform a friend, relative or independent person of your plans, dress appropriately, ensure you have a fully-charged mobile phone with you, check weather forecasts and carefully plan your route before-hand, setting achievable route objectives.”

Chief Insp Rob Tinsley said: “This is what neighbourhood policing is all about — local officers in your local area, when they are needed the most.

“While we can’t promise to be in the right place at the right time all of the time, our officers know areas well enough to be able to respond swiftly in any emergency.”