EIGHT men who sparked a major rescue operation after trying to drive up to Darwen Tower at midnight have been branded ‘idiots’.

Two helicopters, 26 mountain rescue volunteers and two police patrols had to be deployed after they got lost and stuck.

The group had managed to drive up to the tower in two Land Rovers via bridleways in driving wind and rain.

After reaching the summit, which is 1,225ft high, they lost the track and the vehicles became stuck in a bog.

With no idea of their exact position and darkness all around they contacted police for help.

Both the Greater Manchester and Lancashire force helicopters were sent over the moorland to find the men.

But due to the darkness, low-lying cloud and heavy rain, they had to call off their search.

Instead the Bolton Mountain Rescue Team along with two police patrol cars were scrambled.

It took them until almost 6am to complete the rescue.

The group was taken to Darwen police station where they were warned about their actions, but not prosecuted.

The men, who were from Greater Manchester and aged between 20 and 32, would not tell officers their reason for their midnight drive.

One possibility is that they were ‘green laning’.

This is the practice of driving 4X4 vehicles on unsurfaced tracks through the countryside for an ‘extreme sport’.

Carried out legally, green laning drivers use routes that have vehicular rights.

Some of the routes date back thousands of years and connect villages and market towns.

The moors to Darwen Tower do not have these rights.

Mark Barnes, chairman of the Pennine Land Rover Club, said: “It sounds like they were recklessly joyriding on the moors, and that’s not what green laning at clubs is about.

“They were idiots to do this.

“You can easily lose your life up there in a Land Rover if you don’t know or can’t see where you’re going.

“Clubs organise everything legally and safely, and don’t go out at night.

“We hire out places like old quarries, we don’t drive illegally like this.

“If you want to drive off-road, then join a club – don’t take it into your own hands.”

Garry Rhodes, team leader of Bolton Mountain Rescue Team, said that it was a very difficult rescue operation.

He said: “We had intermittent contact with the group on mobile phones, and they were giving us readings from an iPhone map, but unfortunately, they were wide-of-the-mark.

"We had to travel up the bridleways in four of our own Land Rover vehicles, as we knew they hadn’t come off the beaten track.

“When we found them, just after 5am, the men were a bit cold, but didn’t offer an explanation of what they were doing up there.

“It’s a genuine mystery to myself and to the police why anyone would go up there on a night like that.

“We would urge people not to repeat this incident.

“Those tracks are not suitable for vehicles, and we had to be very careful ourselves going up there.”

The men’s 4X4s were not recovered until later that day, with the help of a local farmer’s tractor.

Local councillor Dave Smith said the men should have to make a contribution to the costs of the rescue operation.

He said: “Of course they had to be rescued, but what a complete waste of resources.

“What were they thinking doing that?”

Coun Damien Talbot of Blackburn with Darwen Council, which manages the land, said the men’s actions were ‘very foolish’.

He said: “The West Pennine Moors is not suitable for vehicles and even walking would not have been safe at night in such bad weather.

“Mountain rescue volunteers should not have to waste their time looking for irresponsible people when they only have limited resources which should be used to help people in genuine difficulty.”

Green Laning

  • Green laning, also known as two tracking, is the driving of a 4X4 vehicle along unsurfaced tracks throughout the countryside that have vehicular rights.
  • Some of these date back thousands of years, connecting farms, villages and market towns.
  • The term green lane refers to the fact that the routes are predominantly along unsurfaced tracks, forest tracks or older roadways that may have fallen into disuse.
  • The main emphasis is on enjoying the countryside and accessing areas that may be seldom travelled by motor vehicles rather than exploring the performance of their vehicle.
  • It is generally suitable for any four wheel drive vehicle, even with factory tyres and equipment.
  • Unsurfaced roads that still have Vehicular Rights of Way are known as either Byway Open to All Traffic (BOAT), Road Used as Public Path (RUPP) or Unclassified Country Road (UCR).