A Brighton hillwalker has been criticised for being ill-equipped after he had to be rescued by a mountain rescue team in Scotland.
The unnamed 38-year-old was just over 400 yards from a car park in the Cairngorms when he was found by rescuers.
He had been coming down the 4,000ft Cairngorm mountain in a blizzard, with winds of about 100mph, when he found himself in difficulty.
He called 999 when he reached the Cairngorm Mountain Ski Centre building from where he was taken to safety.
The Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team said that the hillwalker didn’t have a head torch, although he was otherwise well equipped, and he had set off in bad weather.
BBC Scotland said that mountain rescue teams rarely criticised those they had helped.
But it reported mountain rescue team leader Willie Anderson saying that the man lacked a head torch even though it was close to the shortest day of the year.
The BBC quoted Mr Anderson as saying: “His decision to phone 999 was an abuse of an emergency service.”
The alarm was raised as darkness descended – during the afternoon – and the rescue was completed by 8pm.
