Vet fined for sparking £5,500 rescue by writing help in snow

A vet sparked a full-scale emergency search after writing ‘HELP’ in giant letters on the summit of a mountain. Paul Manchester, 47, from Stalybridge, says he wrote the word because he was exhilarated by the climb to the top. But the 12ft high letters were spotted by people living four miles away who alerted emergency services. The mountain rescue team and emergency helicopter were scrambled.

Mr Manchester was unaware of the panic he caused with his fake alarm stamped into the snow at the top of 3,218ft Slioch in the north of Scotland last winter – until he was met by a member of the rescue team on his way down the mountain. After admitting - at Dingwell Sheriff Court, Scotland - breach of the peace Mr Manchester has spoken of his `deep regret and embarrassment'.



The married father-of-two said that he wrote the word while carried away by `exhilaration' at completing the climb with nine pals. He said: "It was a beautiful day with blue skies and no wind - we were having a great time. Coming back down we were making deep tracks in the snow and just on the spur of the moment as a joke among friends I thought I would spell out the word help.

"There was no intention of a hoax. Exhilaration was definitely part of it. You don't get many days like that in the hills and it was fresh deep snow. Somebody said, `What if someone sees it?' But we decided that no one would be able to and left it at that. About 40 minutes later, when we were on our descent I met a member of the mountain rescue team. He asked us if we knew about what had been written and I said `yes, I did it'. I was immediately distraught - more so when he said the police were involved and that they had actioned a helicopter."



Fining him £600, Sheriff Donald Corke said that the fact that Mr Manchester was a responsible individual made it more surprising that he did such an `irresponsible' thing.

He later wrote to apologise to the rescue team and enclosed a £50 donation. He later offered to donate a further £2,000 but the mountain rescue team refused it and asked him to give half the sum to an Inverness hospice. The cost of scrambling the mountain rescue team and Stornoway helicopter was £5,500. Mr Manchester said: "It's very embarrassing and I'm full of regret. I've not been up a mountain since."