UKC

I was recently walking in Snowdonia and on arriving back at the car park after a longish day I was approached by a lady who started asking me questions about the terrain and paths in the area. It transpired that she had walked with her husband and sixteen year old son for about a mile and a half. Being slower than them she decided to return to the car park. She had left them at about 1pm and when she approached me it was about six. I think she was, by then, beginning to get a little concerned and I "gently" questioned her as to any stated objectives and whether they had a map etc.

I decided to stay with her until, hopefully, they returned and I think she was glad to be able to talk to me and ask relevant questions. As it happened they turned up about 45 minutes later, safe and sound.

Obviously if there had been any suggestion of a serious incident such as a fall having occurred then any action taken by a responsible third party would have been more clear cut.

Just wondering what action a third party should reasonably take in the event of a possibly overdue group.

What you did. Good for you

Presumably if they had become seriously overdue you would have helped her ring the Police/MR for advice?

Just to add, in this case, I would probably call Police on the non-emergency number (101), explain the situation and let them make the judgement call rather than calling 999.  If you know a non-emergency number for the local MR you could try that channel too.

First thing would always be re-assurance as you did - odds are nothing untoward has happened and they are just a bit late.  If the person was very worried I'd stay with them if possible.  I wouldn't head back up the hill to look for them or anything like that.

As to when you should call it in, or encourage them to, that's all very dependent on the situation but you'd never be wrong to call the police and report the party overdue - just remember to let the police know if they turn up!  The police will take all the relevant info and then make a judgement call if any further action is needed at that moment or not - so don't worry about it triggering an un-necessary call out. 

It could also be useful to them as a correlating piece of info if they've had other reports (e.g. 2 folk seen on steep rocky ground off route somewhere by another party, or reports of shouts / whistles etc).

Cheers!

Stu

Where the people late? If they were planning to be back at, say, 14h00 and were now four hours late, I'd probably start to suspect that something had developed -- unless they were trad. climbers. If they weren't planning to be back until 18h00, I would say your course of action was perfectly correct.

If I suspected that there might be developing situation in which a rescue team might play a later role, I would try to get hold of rescue sooner rather than later and give them the known facts: where, who, weather, supposed competence levels,  known plans and intentions etc. Make it clear that you have no reason to believe that anyone needs immediate assistance but let them know the facts and they might override your judgement -- they're trained in such judgements, after all.

Just be certain to ring them up, immediately, when facts change -- either because the missed people have appeared or because the situation has deteriorated.

Go pub

Get plastered 

Thanks. Had the situation developed my initial call was going to be 101 and I had made up my mind to stay with her  until they turned up or, in the event of police or MRT involvement, I was able to "hand over"

I'd probably do as you did and then ask locally for advice if possible or call MRT via the police.  

I'm assuming from what you said you tried to work out where they had gone and estimate a sensible estimated time back and see if they are actually overdue.  I'd also check if she had tried to text them ad text messages often get through when phone calls won't, not everyone seems aware of this.  

As per this incident you need food as well. 

https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2017/09/17/rescuers-vent-frustration-over...