Incident Report #27 1974

A search of Wanstell was started after reports of red flares being seen near the summit. This search was called off after two hours after it was learned that three distress flares had been set off by some speed boat enthusiasts in a local hotel car park.
Footnote: This was a stupid and foolish incident. Flares in the mountains carry the same message as flares at sea—they mean distress. The flares were let off by people in high spirits, and their behaviour resulted in a false alarm and unnecessary search operation. We can ill afford to spend valuable rescue donations on such thoughtlessness. Two years ago the same thing happened at the end of similar speed boat trials and had it not been for the alertness of an Ambleside policeman who remembered that incident the search could have continued for several hours,