22 people rescued after being stuck in snow in Cheshire

Cheshire Police conducted a three-hour mission to rescue 22 strandedpeople - including eight children under 10 - after nine vehicles gotstuck in ice and snow at the weekend.Officers initially received a call from one family with a young childwho were stuck in their vehicle. The family had travelled fromManchester to the White Peak area of Cheshire.After setting up base at a local farm, two officers set off on foot towalk to the location, where they found nine vehicles and 22 peoplestranded.It turned out that all except one car was from out of Cheshire.Officers began the one-mile walk back to the farm with the strandedpassengers, who were later dropped off in Macclesfield on Saturday.A spokesman for Cheshire Police Rural Crime Team posted: "The teamhave been involved in a three-hour rescue of a number of familiesstuck in their vehicles."Initially the call was for one family with a young child stuck intheir vehicle. They'd travelled from Manchester into the White Peakarea of Cheshire."As we arrived in the area, we set up an RV (rendezvous) point at alocal farm. Massive thank you to the gent their who allowed us to usehis yard."Then myself, PC Kaminski and PC Shields set off on foot to walk tothe location."What we found were nine vehicles stranded with 22 people spreadamongst them (and one dog) eight of them children all under the age of10 with the youngest being two years old."The snow had well and truly caught them all out on the back roads,and it soon became apparent that all except one car was from out ofCheshire. We had people from Sale, Stockport and Salford with theclosest being Congleton."We were three miles from the nearest village, and the light wasfading on us quickly. It was decided to get everyone out of their carsand so began a one mile walk in the snow to the farm we had set up asan RV."Once there, we ferried them off the hill to two police vans, who tookthem off into Macclesfield."Everyone is off the hill, safe and well."Massive thank you to all involved from the RCT Macclesfield Police,both Community Team and Response and the Control room who kept theincident running for us."The police spokesman added: "It's TIER 4 for a reason. Sadly thesepeople have put all of us at risk today. Please don't venture out intothe snow or any high ground (if your not prepared for snow) and keeplocal."