Hope the taxi fare taught them a lesson but I doubt it.

The walk they were doing is isn't long at all so they must have set off at a stupid time to still be up there after dark.

If they had correct clothes they knew weather forecast and times for daylight yet still made the mistake and had to be rescued, poor from them all on this and should be charged.

Getting the absolute basic of setting off at a sensible time wrong lead them to getting the navigation wrong which lead them to being rescued.
People can be so lacking in common sense.

It's a wonder they never complained because there were no signs telling people what time it gets dark at this time of year.

Every time someone gets into trouble in the Lakes you get the same smart alecs, banging on about how stupid they were, like they're all Chris Bonnington and have never been caught out by conditions.

Anyone can get into trouble at altitude. If you clever clogs knew anything about mountains you'd know that. Pipe down instead of criticising.

No, Mr Cronk. Anyone can get into trouble but trouble can frequently be avoided by applying a little common sense. For example, as others have stated, setting off at a time which would avoid becoming benighted. It is not so much a question of "banging on" but an expression of frustration at others' lack of sense and judgement.

See I'm 50/50 here,

I don't see any issue with the walking at night as long as they were prepared for the weather, that said, clearly navigation and prior knowledge of the mountain would have been useful!

If you knew Helvellyn you'd know it's pretty easy to get onto striding edge...

This was yet another avoidable callout. And it's not the first of its kind at this time of year. Today (26th Nov) sunset is 15:56 followed by 42 minutes of twilight. Civil end (fully dark) is 16:38. You have to know and understand that, and that, for a fit strong mountaineer, it's two hours up and an hour down from Swirls. Four hours for the round trip from Glenridding. Therefore, you need to leave Swirls or Wythburn car park no later than 13:00 hrs. Noon from Glenridding. Yes, signs saying that are needed on the car parks. Navigation is not only map & compass but also timing. If you don't know time of sunset or journey times then you can't apply your 'common sense'. (In fact, there is no such thing a 'common sense'. Everything is obvious when you know the answer.) This is 'common sense' to me (and hopefully, you) because I know these things. Navigation by path-following fails when you run out of path - as is the case on Helvellyn top. So yes, there is an issue with walking at night if you can't navigate. If, as we might suspect from the call-out time, they intentionally tried to do this route in the dark in those condtions, possibly lacking knowledge of the mountain, certainly lacking the ability to navigate accurately (a couple of bearings would have taken them across to the Swirral cairn), then they were, indeed, irresponsible. Consider that, in a court of law, if you contribute to your misfortune you will pay costs. Discuss!

This was yet another avoidable callout. And it's not the first of its kind at this time of year. Today (26th Nov) sunset is 15:56 followed by 42 minutes of twilight. Civil end (fully dark) is 16:38. You have to know and understand that, and that, for a fit strong mountaineer, it's two hours up and an hour down from Swirls. Four hours for the round trip from Glenridding. Therefore, you need to leave Swirls or Wythburn car park no later than 13:00 hrs. Noon from Glenridding. Yes, signs saying that are needed on the car parks. Navigation is not only map & compass but also timing. If you don't know time of sunset or journey times then you can't apply your 'common sense'. (In fact, there is no such thing a 'common sense'. Everything is obvious when you know the answer.) This is 'common sense' to me (and hopefully, you) because I know these things. Navigation by path-following fails when you run out of path - as is the case on Helvellyn top. So yes, there is an issue with walking at night if you can't navigate. If, as we might suspect from the call-out time, they intentionally tried to do this route in the dark in those conditions, possibly lacking knowledge of the mountain, certainly lacking the ability to navigate accurately (a couple of bearings would have taken them across to the Swirral cairn), then they were, indeed, irresponsible. Consider that, in a court of law, if you contribute to your misfortune you will pay costs. Discuss!

I bumped into some "all the gear, no ideas" on Sunday in Eskdale, trying to navigate with a phone. It was obvious they were lost, so tried to point them in the right direction.

The worst bit was that they thought they could walk 5 miles over rough, hilly ground without a map in an hour.

A little bit of time spent practising night navigation never does any harm.

hahaha, I gather @Malcolm Grant Purvis has forgot to take his pills again

Chris - Why troll? Stick to the subject?

My view - this incident was easily avoidable with just a tad of mountain sense. It has engaged MRT unnecesarily and that could have put others at risk who may have also needed them. But we do all make mistakes, albeit hopefully not always this obvious in most cases, I just hope they have learn from this.