RESCUERS from Blackburn and Goosnargh helped save the life of a man who became stuck on top of fells near Preston.

Tony Bond, 51, of Goosnargh, is a team leader with the Bowland Pennine Mountain Rescue Team who were called out to find the 24-year-old.

He said: "He is very lucky to be alive. If he hadn't had a mobile so we could talk to him we would have been lucky to find him as he was so far from where he should have been on his route.

"He was not suitably equipped to be walking in February. He had no spare food or clothing and didn't appear to have a map or compass.

"We all get very complacent on sunny days but it is easy to get lost and can happen to anybody."

The man had gone out walking at about lunchtime on Sunday but had got lost while on the fells.

He was eventually found cold and hungry at 10pm yesterday after being lost for around 10 hours.

Using both local knowledge, assistance from the police helicopter and the moon, the rescue team managed to find him walking along a fell track.

He was quickly checked by a member of the team, a midwife from Blackburn, before being escorted to his car parked at Fell Foot near Chipping.