Elderly man rescued by Wigan firefighters after slipping 18ft down an embankment

Police, ambulance, two fire engines and the fire service technical rescue unit were all mobilised to a brook between Browning Grove and Martland Crescent, Standish Lower Ground, at 8.40pm on Thursday September 7 after the accident.

Relatives of the casualty, who is in his mid-80s, had raised the alarm after being unable to bring him to safety themselves

Paramedics had been summoned to the scene because there were fears that the man might be seriously injured.

But Wigan fire station watch manager Mike Fairhurst said: “It was a relatively simple operation and we were happy to discover that the gentleman wasn’t seriously harmed.

"He had suffered some bruises plus scratches from brambles and, of course, he was shaken up. He was brought up on a Titan stretcher but after that he was well enough to be walked along the path.”