The men travelled to climb Buachaille Etive Mòr. Photo: Johnny Durnan CC-BY-SA-2.0
Police issued fixed penalties to two walkers following an incident in which a rescuer was injured.
Police Scotland said the pair travelled from Oban to climb Buachaille Etive Mòr in Glen Coe on New Year’s Eve.
The penalties were imposed for breaking Covid-19 travel restrictions.
The two walkers called for help when they got into difficulties on the descent of the mountain.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “One of the men had sustained a leg injury which resulted in 25 members of Glencoe Mountain Rescue attending on foot to locate the men and safely assist them off the hill.
“The injured man was taken by land ambulance to hospital for assessment. During the rescue, a member of Glencoe MRT suffered an injury which is currently undergoing medical assessment.”
Inspector Kevin Macleod from the Highland and Islands police division said: “The men had travelled from Oban to hike this route, and found themselves in difficultly as the light was fading at 3.25pm when police and MRT were called.
“The rescue took a total of 108 man hours and the team stood down at 7.30pm. Both men, aged 21 and 27, were issued with fixed penalty notices for breaching travel regulations.
“We continue to ask people to take personal responsibility to do the right thing and remember the purpose of these measures is to aid the collective effort to protect the NHS and save lives by preventing the virus from spreading.”
Andy Neilson, team leader of Glencoe Mountain Rescue said: “We will always continue to provide the vital MRT service that we are committed to.
“However, the volunteers assisting the men did feel vulnerable due to the inevitable close contact required and we have to prioritise the health of our members in order to continue to provide this vital service.”
Steve Woollard
04 January 2021Sends out the wrong message. By all means fine them on the way there or on the way home, but not when they've called out the MRT.
Steve Woollard
04 January 2021This sends out the wrong message. By all means fine people on the way there or on the way home but not when they call out the MRT otherwise people will be reluctant to call the MRT when in difficulty which could have tragic consequences
If only
04 January 2021Rubbish!!
Fine them then they might think about their actions.
These are full on winter conditions and travel is 'stay local'.
They should not be on these hills, they have endangered MRT volunteers .
Rules
04 January 2021So looking at the guidance I think they would have been allowed to travel up to 5 miles into another local authority area at that time for informal exercise. I think parking point for Buachaille is approx 6 miles from Argyll and Bute boundary so outside that.
It would seem if they had just picked a different route within 5 miles of their own local authority area they could have avoided a fine. Shows importance of knowing the current travel rules. https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/#exceptions
Of course also possible that they were fined for breaching some other travel restriction under the legislation.
I would agree about concern around risk of potentially discouraging people from seeking help in emergency.
PD
04 January 2021Steve -Do you really think people wouldn't call MR because of a fixed penalty.?
Mark
05 January 2021You drunk Steve?
They shouldn't have been there in the first place and as far as I have heard were woefully ill prepared.
Davie
06 January 2021As these two muppets came from Oban , i doubt they walked from the county line, I presume they drove, the nearest boundary line via road is in excess of 7 miles away just south of Loch Ba, I also was told as mentioned they were woefully ill prepared and inexperienced . there have been plenty of idiots in the area recently from as far away as Campbeltown and Helensburgh using the 5 mile rule. it's a total disgrace, this area has been fairly covid free all through the pandemic, as a genuine local it disgusts me the selfishness of these people that they are prepared to put not just MRT and the emergency services, but the whole local community at risk. tarred and feathered would be too good.
Davie
06 January 2021As these two muppets came from Oban , i doubt they walked from the county line, I presume they drove, the nearest boundary line via road is in excess of 7 miles away just south of Loch Ba, I also was told as mentioned they were woefully ill prepared and inexperienced . there have been plenty of idiots in the area recently from as far away as Campbeltown and Helensburgh using the 5 mile rule. it's a total disgrace, this area has been fairly covid free all through the pandemic, as a genuine local who works in the hills around here, it disgusts me the selfishness of these people that they are prepared to put not just MRT and the emergency services, but the whole local community at risk. tarred and feathered would be too good.