A rather unusual and early time for NWAS ( Greater Manchester Area ) Belle Vue Emergency Control to be paging the team, but at 07.45hrs this morning our pagers ’rung’ (Webmaster, should that be ’toned’) into action requesting we contact NWAS (GMA) Control.

Answered immediately, whilst other members responded initially to our Ladybridge Hall base to crew the first responding vehicle, our Team Leader established the call was to an elderly collapsed man on a canal towpath (the Bridgewater Canal) which although in the urban setting of Timperley, Altrincham, had relative access difficulties, as the man was collapsed on a section of towpath quite a distance from the nearest access point.

With twenty team members responding, despite it being early morning and a workday, the team was stood down 15 minutes into its response as the responding ambulance resources has fortunately managed to evacuate the collapsed man, transferring him to Wythenshawe Hospital.

(It may come as a surprise to some of our readers, but not to the team members who are used to such situations, how even in urban environments some accidents can give immediate access difficulties in terms of getting the casualty safely into an Ambulance, hence NWAS calling on our help.)