Pub snow man’s miracle survival

DRIFT drama . . . Stuart Haigh at The Rams Head where snow drifts covered the mystery man. Picture by DARREN ROBINSON

A pub manager told today how he miraculously found a man alive under a snowdrift at the height of a moorland snowstorm.

Stuart Haigh (22) made his remarkable discovery after battling through a 70mph blizzard to The Rams Head, high on the moors above Denshaw.

Stuart, who runs the family business with his landlord father, Geoff, said: “I was returning to the pub in my 4x4, parked up and struggled across the car park to reach the pub’s front door.

“There was a huge snow drift up against the door. You couldn’t see a thing because of the driving snow and wind.

“I was feeling for the keyhole and door handle under the snow when I felt someone under the drift. I was really frightened.

“I cleared the snow away and saw a man. At first I thought he was dead. I had to shake him to wake him up.”

Stuart said the man, aged about 35, who had a distinctive goatee beard, was dressed in a dark overcoat and a black woollen hat.

“There was a car abandoned on our car park and I thought it may have belonged to him.

“But the man said he was walking to Bury — which was even more remarkable as the roads were impassable.

“Goodness knows how long he’d actually been in the pub doorway. He seemed a bit disorientated.

“I kept asking him where he had come from and he said Bury. So I offered to give him a lift but he declined. He kept insisting he was all right.”

Stuart called the police who in turn passed the information on to Oldham Mountain Rescue Team. But when he returned the man had vanished.

Mick Nield, the team’s leader, mobilised three Land Rovers which battled the freezing conditions on Monday to reach the scene.

Mick said: “We couldn’t find the mystery man. We thought he may have taken shelter in one of the outhouses — but despite a thorough search, he had vanished.”

Mick then contacted the rescue team’s co-ordinator Peter Hyde at its Oldham base who organised a full call-out.

Twenty-five mountain rescuers were alerted to converge on the scene.

“The weather was terrible,” said Mick. “If you had been out in those winds and snow you would have suffered from hypothermia in less than 15 minutes without proper clothing.”

As they began to patrol the area, they met a council gritter whose driver said he had seen the man on the road when he was returning for another load of salt and had taken him to Oldham Mumps bus station.

“It was good thinking on the gritter driver’s part. He did a great job,” said Mick.

The gritter driver, who did not want to be named said: “He was the only person out — the weather was horrific. I dropped him near the bus station but he never mentioned his ordeal. He looked completely washed out though, and thanked me for the lift.”