With some members at our LBH base location and others still active on the GMAS peak demand call, the Team was paged at 14:13 Hrs by LanCon with regards to immediate assistance with a missing 65 year old male in the Rivington area. A full Team Call Out page was made at 14:18 Hrs with our Team Leader responding immediately to rendezvous with Police.

The missing person was already subject to a Missing Person Police enquiry, with his car having been found in the Rivington area. 22 Team members including our search dog were available for this incident.

A large Lancashire Constabulary response was also made including Divisional officers, a Police search manager, Traffic division and the LanCon ASU (which departed the search area to refuel as the Team arrived).

The Team called on the local full time United Utilities Ranger for her assistance and in view of the search being on the border with our colleagues Bowland Pennine MRT, we also called on them for assistance (in the event, all but one of the BPMRT responding members were stood down on route, with a single member arriving at search control at our stand down).

A quick search of all the footpaths radiating out from the missing persons car location, at the Bowling Green club car park, was made by the Police and Bolton Team members, with small parties of Bolton MRT members covering outlying paths on the moors, as the missing person was known to have considerable local knowledge and experience.

As the afternoon wore on the weather conditions considerably worsened with torrential rain falling and very wet conditions under foot, giving rise to great concern for the missing persons welfare.

During late afternoon, whilst undertaking a binocular search of the Upper Rivington reservoir shore line, in the vicinity of Pilkington Wood, the United Utilities Ranger spotted a person answering the mispers description.

Bolton Team members and Police officers were immediately dispatched to this location and met up with the missing person.

The missing person was brought back to the joint Bolton MRT / Police search control to be happily reunited with some immediate family members, but as a precaution was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital, in a Bolton MRT Landrover Ambulance, for a check up.

Thankfully this search had a happy outcome and also demonstrated the excellent co-operation and joint working relationship we have with Lancashire Constabulary and United Utilities Ranger Service (and of course our colleagues at BPMRT, who were so readily responding to this same incident).

Combined with the earlier GMAS calls, this was yet another busy day in the life of Bolton MRT.