‘Extremely lucky’ escape for trio as vehicle overturns
POLICE officers, two drones and a dog unit searched for the occupants of a car that overturned and fell 15ft down a steep banking.
The dramatic accident happened on the A537 Cat and Fiddle road, near Macclesfield, on Saturday evening (August 21) at around 9pm.
Officers were called but discovered the car abandoned - as had a passer by when he abseiled down from the road to check if anyone was inside hurt.
After several hours searching rocky terrain, three ‘extremely lucky’ men, from Manchester, who had been in the vehicle were found uninjured.
Sergeant Rob Simpson, from Cheshire Police’s rural crime team, was the first officer on the scene.
He said: “The vehicle left the road and was upside down on a 45-degree wet grassy slope, having dropped some 15 feet.
“Three young men who had been in the vehicle when it crashed, have been located and are safe and well. They are extremely lucky to have no injuries, and they were all still visibly shaken by the experience.
“They were located up in the hills, very damp, just as the cloud was closing in and the weather was turning worse. They told us that they had no idea where they had been and just walked off across the fields.”
Although the identity of the owner had been traced through his car, police had been unable to contact him because of poor mobile reception in the area.
While officers were pleased the men were found safe, they also said the lengthy search had potentially taken resources away from other incidents.
Members of the public were praised for their help with the incident.
Sgt Simpson said: “A massive thank you to all the concerned people who stopped and reported it. I was first on scene and it was great to be greeted by so many people who had stopped to help.
“The gent who fashioned an abseil to make his way down to the car to check for injured people before we arrived, and the others too. You’re all brilliant.
“Following a number of hours searching in quite tricky terrain, involving two police drones, a police dog unit and officers from both Macclesfield and Congleton - not forgetting our control room staff - the incident has concluded.
“The three males took their ‘educational input’ on what their choices had meant for them and us for the evening, and the impact it has on the communities of Cheshire when we’re not available for other incidents.”