Residents reported seeing flares on Skiddaw
Mountain rescuers responding to reports of distress flares being seen on a Lake District mountain found a film crew using them during their shoot.
Keswick Mountain Rescue Team went to the scene yesterday about 7.15pm after members of the public saw the flares being set off on Skiddaw.
A team spokesperson said: “When a local resident reported a flare being seen on Skiddaw, it was initially greeted with some scepticism, as flares are rarely used these days to raise an alarm.
“When however a second one was seen after about an hour at the same location, we decided it had to be followed up.
“A group gathered at base, and a team of seven with two search dogs flogged up from the top of Dodd with all the rescue kit, to discover a film crew making a mountain-biking film.
“In the traditional words of the police, they were ‘offered advice’.”
The callout involved 16 members of the volunteer team and took almost 2¾ hours.
John
26 July 2014Unbelievable!!! Simply inconsiderate by the film crew; I'd suggest their risk assessment did not consider the impact on others. Only acceptable course of action is for the film crew to make a noticeable contribution to the MRT as an apology and a thank you for the teams effort.
Jhimmy
26 July 2014All it took was a quick call to Keswick MRT to say a few flares were being fired at xx.xx hour or thereabouts.
One word...students..must have been involved because a pro crew would have called this in.
Name and shame!
Alan Lancashire
27 July 2014You can't fix stupid, but you could sue for the cost of the callout.