A COUPLE ran three miles to summon a rescue helicopter after seeing a walker plunge down a mountainside.

Walkers Denise Pickard and Dave Clarke could not get a signal on their mobile phone - and were forced to race to a Dales village to call the rescue services.

Rescuers praised the couple last night for their quick-thinking, and called for more to be done to improve mobile phone coverage in remote areas of the region.

The pair were walking on Bank Holiday Monday when they saw the man stumble and fall into a ravine at Swinner Gill, in Swaledale, North Yorkshire.

Ms Pickard, 37, an outdoor education worker, said she and her 57-year-old partner had been walking along the upper level route from Swinner Gill Lead Mines to Arngill Scar.

She said: "We could see some people near the path on the lower route, quite far below us.

"All of a sudden, one of them sort of somersaulted over and plunged down the mountainside.

"We saw him hit his head on the way down, and we heard the thud when he hit the bottom. It was pretty horrific."

The couple, who are experienced fell-walkers, took note of the grid reference on their map and began the race for help.

"There was no signal, so we were forced to make some pretty tough decisions," said Ms Pickard, who used to work for St John Ambulance.

"We are both trained in first aid, and it felt awful just running in the opposite direction of somebody who clearly needed us.

"But there was a group of people with him, and we decided we could do more good by getting proper help.

"The path we were on was pretty narrow and treacherous, and we had calculated that it would take us several hours to walk it.

"We sort of half-ran, half-walked and half-stumbled all the way, checking the signal on our mobiles every 20 paces. It was such a relief when we finally made it."

The couple eventually arrived in Gunnerside just over an hour later, when they were able to get a phone signal and alert Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team.

Dave Rutter, rescue controller, said the couple's actions could have helped to avert disaster.

He said: "They did a really impressive job.

"Thanks to their quick thinking, we were able to get to the casualty in good time.

"He was extremely lucky that Ms Pickard and Mr Clark were there at the right time - they did absolutely the right thing."

Two teams from Swaledale Mountain Rescue, as well as a helicopter from the Great North Air Ambulance Service, arrived at Swinner Gill to find the victim unconscious.

The 55-year-old, from Kent, had suffered serious but not life-threatening head and leg injuries and was airlifted to the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where his condition is said to be comfortable.

Councillor John Blackie, who represents the area on North Yorkshire County Council, said more should be done to make sure people in remote communities have access to good communications.

"People up there are cut off by

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