The Team leader was contacted by the Police following a ‘999’ call from the phone box at the bottom of Hardknott Pass. A family of 5 had driven over Hardknott Pass and when they passed the Roman Fort (at 3.45 p.m.) the father, 13 yr old son and 5 yr old daughter got out to walk to the fort and then back down the fell to the bottom of the Pass. The mother drove the car to the bottom (sometime later) but when she got down there was no sign of the party. She had driven back up to the fort and back down again. When darkness fell she called the police. The team were mobilised and two Eskdale team members went straight to the bottom of Hardknott. Whilst team members were gathering the missing group turned up safe and well at 7.30 p.m. The missing group had walked down the fell and instead of waiting at the bottom, carried on walking down the road to try and find the car until they got to the Dalegarth Railway Station (2 miles) and then walked back to the telephone box. The team were very relieved that it did not end up as a repeat of the previous rescue. Normally the team would sit on an incident such as this until later to allow the missing persons time to make their way out but when young children are involved a more immediate response takes place. Base was closed down at 8.00 p.m.
Incident started at 19:09 and ended at 20:00 making 0.9 hrs in total.
