A rescue operation costing thousands of pounds was launched after three men were spotted paddling in a dinghy on a canal.
A police helicopter, inshore rescue boat, and fire crew were called to the trio paddling the dinghy along the Manchester Ship Canal.
They were seen by a passer-by who was concerned that they may have been in trouble.
The emergency services were alerted and firefighters were sent from Stretford, the brigade’s in shore boat from Eccles, and the GMP helicopter from Barton.
At first the men could not be seen and the helicopter flew up the canal until its crew spotted them and guided officers on the ground to where they were.
But they arrived to see the three men reach Barton Swing Bridge then gently glide to the shore and get out.
One of the men was in his 40s, another 30, and the third in his late 20s.
It cost the brigade £640 to mobilise a crew and its boat and the police several thousand pounds to scramble the helicopter.
Police did not arrest the men but they were given a severe reprimand by officers. A police spokesman said: "They were given a flea in their ear and had the error of their ways pointed out to them.
"They should know better and were advised how much this costs in terms of resources."
Mark Donohue, watch manager at Stretford fire station, said his crew was called to assist the water incident unit shortly before 7pm on Sunday.
A caller had seen the dinghy ‘in trouble’ near Redclyffe Road and dialled 999.
Mr Donohue added: "It was a warm day and three lads were in a dinghy messing around.
"They saw everyone arrive there and got out of the boat."
Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
it didn't really cost the Police thousands of pounds. It cost the taxpayer.
Will these three men now receive an invoice for charges incurred?
If not, why not?
It didn't cost thousands of pounds if you read the article it cost just £640 ! And why should the men pay when they weren't in any difficulty, if anyone should pay it's the person who dialed 999 wrongly!
The men were not charged with doing anything wrong, otherwise the Police would have charged them, although the ship canal could be very dangerous with ships passing and locks etc.
Hang on. Apart from breaking some pointless dated ship canal bylaw from the time when there were plenty of boats on it, what had these three actually done wrong to be 'told off' by GMP? And what happened to the 'caller' who made a mistake thinking they were in trouble and called 999, possibly maliciously?
Old enough to know better.....................3 grown men in a dinghy?
Shock horror three men in a dinghy, best get the helicopter up and the fire brigade out!!!
Why the hell did they scramble the helecopter for this? If anyone is invoiced it should be the muppet who made the phone call, failing that the idiot who decided to get the helicopter up.
Hang on a minute, so you cant row a boat on a canal any more??
Is it a crime to paddle a dinghy on the ship canal? They didn't ask for help and obviously were in complete control of the dinghy. A concerned member of the public called the police who had to assume the worst, they were scrambled and found the people safe and well. If its not illegal to do what they did they shouldn’t have been given any reprimand at all if it was then they should have been prosecuted. There is no two ways around it why don’t the police actually follow the letter of the law? This reaction has just meant the tax payer has been billed for thousands of pounds and the people who by breaking the law accrued this cost receive no consequences OR its a case of people found safe and well while enjoying the sun in a legal way and we are happy they are safe.
if it was on a river no one would have batted an eyelid. i suspect the person who rang the police did so not because they thought they were in trouble, but to grass them in. if they were paddling along in a dinghy how can they possibly look like they are in trouble?
I would have told the police where they could go if they tried to reprimanded me for paddling a boat on a river.
Were they actually breaking the law and did they need assistance???
Send the bill to the concerned passer-by.
The BBC have done a couple of good programs about 3 men in a boat - obviously not up here.
I fail to see how it 'cost' anything bearing in mind these services were already on duty and waiting for an emergency as they are 24 hours a day. Aside the cost of fuel and ink for filling in the health and safety forms..
What next? 'Helicopter crew cost police £1000 a day waiting for no call out?'
It's a good job this passerby doesn't live in Cambridge!!
They didn't phone the police, and they weren't in any trouble. The lady who did was effectively a prank caller wasting police resources. Sounds like a fun day out to me.
So can anyone actually clarify if what they did was illegal?
If not, why did GMP give them an earbashing? They should have had a stern word with whoever called them out in the first place.
3 Numpties in a boat.
Hilarious, but the sad thing is, if you call the cops whilst your home is under attack from a howling mass of feral youths, you've got no chance of getting the helicopter sent over immediately. In fact, you'll be lucky to get a PCSO on a bike turn up three hours later......!
Was it Rory McGrath, Griff Rhys Jones and Dara Oflippineckicantspellhisname?
What it doesn't mention is the type of dinghy. Some of those cheap inflatable things are extremely dangerous (particularly with three grown men in) and the error of their ways would quite rightly pointed out.
As for the reasons for putting up the helicopter and sending out the inshore rescue craft it is quite easy. Access to the canal is not easy and it is a lot easier and less time consuming to view the canal from the air and if they had been in trouble they would have been able to get help to them quicker with the boat.
Had these lads actually been in trouble and the response not been to send the helicopter and the boat and as a result there was a delay that ended in their deaths then I have no doubt that all those on here who slag the emergency services off would be doing so still but calling for heads to roll etc!!!!
Right response and the best end result!!!
It would have been nice if Alex Scapens could have mentioned in this piece if any law had actually been broken. What exactly was the error of their ways?
With the drinking and driving laws, how else and what better way to go on a pub crawl?
Some of the comments on this are unbelievable!
Total over reaction by the emergency services.
I remember my dad taking us for a trip in his dinghy up the ship canal from Worsley Green to near Parrin Lane , Monton in the mid 70's. There was that much rubbish in the canal am surprised it didn't burst and we were never told off etc
My friend Captain Pugwash and Captain Seaman (named by the police on the rescue whcih didnt need to happen) just want me to give you their thanks for the messages guys and to also let you knwo that although their paddling pool was damaged they will certainly sail again xxxx
No, 3 people minding thier own business and chilling out =s as below.... a numpty with aphone, a heli full of numpties and a fire crew full of them too. Chill....