Oxenhope man (From Keighley News)

Oxenhope man

9:40am Thursday 21st January 2010

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Police went to the aid of a 78-year-old Oxenhope man who had run out of urgently needed heart tablets after being snowed in.

John Cook, who operates his own radio transmitter, was unable to leave his home for two weeks.

But after mentioning his predicament to fellow ham radio enthusiasts, one of them passed his concerns on to the police.

“Last Saturday night I got a knock on the back door and there was a policeman and a police woman there,” he said.

“I was a little worried at first as I’d no idea why they had turned up. But they said they’d been told about my problem by someone in Micklethwaite.”

He said the police officers asked him what he required then headed to Keighley’s Sainsbury’s supermarket and returned with Lisinopril heart tablets and groceries.

Mr Cook, a retired civil engineer who lives alone at Upwood Park, off Black Moor Road, said he was delighted and very grateful. “I did the only thing I could do, which was make them a cup of tea,” he said. “I’ve had heart attacks before and I have to take three different tablets for my heart each day. I’m a diabetic as well. I didn’t have a surplus of medicine before the snow came so I’d completely run out and didn’t know what to do.

“It’s nice living here in summer but I’m at least 1,600 feet up and the snow has been really bad this winter.”

He added that he has had a radio transmitting licence since he was 16, though did not yet know who contacted the police on his behalf.

He said he had written to the commander of the Airedale and North Bradford police division to praise the actions of his officers.

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said the two officers involved were PCs Clare Sands and Greg Palmer.

PC Sands said she and her colleague were made aware of Mr Cook’s situation and paid him a “welfare visit” in a patrol car.

She said: “People can have a negative view of the police sometimes but we are here to do good and to help in situations like this.

“It is all part and parcel of the job as far as I’m concerned and I’m glad we were able to help.”

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