A GRANDFATHER has praised a mountain rescue team for saving his life when he careered off his mountain bike and broke a bone in his neck.

Andrew Morton credits the Rossendale and Pendle Mountain Rescue Team, and his quick-thinking friends, with saving him from paralysis or worse.

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Mr Morton was thrown over his handle bars while cycling down the Grane Road and landed on his neck.

The 59-year-old from Waterfoot said: “I can’t thank the team enough for what they did because it could have been so much worse for me.

“Without the team, and my friends, I would probably be in a wheel-chair or worse.”

Since the accident, his wife, Janice, has been on a fundraising mission for the rescue team by way of thanks.

Father-of-two Mr Morton was told not to move by the friends he was cycling with while they rang for the rescue team who arrived with two doctors.

The former pupil at the now-closed Lea Bank School in Rawtenstall, said: “My bike hit a stone and I just went over the handlebars and landed on my neck.

“I heard it crack and I knew right then that it was very serious. My friends told me not to move and they called the the team straight away.”

He was put in a neck brace and stretchered over fields and fences to the team’s waiting ambulance before being taken to Royal Preston Hospital where he spent three weeks.

The grandfather-of-two and owner of A.D. Morton Ltd, a steel and steelwork suppliers in Bacup, was forced to wear a brace for 12 weeks after being discharged and still suffers from a stiff neck.

Mrs Morton said: “I felt sick when I heard what had happened.

“I was out biking at the time and I got a call when I got to a pub to tell me what had happened.

“I had to bike home and change into dry clothes before making my way to Royal Blackburn Hospital.

“On the way I got another call saying that he was going to Preston to the spinal unit and I knew then that it was really serious.

“What the team and his friends did was absolutely amazing and they did such a fantastic job.”

Mrs Morton and her cycling team, the Waterfoot Wheelers, decided to cycle the Sandstone Way mountain bike route between Berwick-upon-Tweed and Hexham in Northumberland to raise money for the Haslingden and Burnley-based team.

The 120-mile route was taken on by Janice and her six friends who were able to raise more than £1,500 for the charity.

A spokesman for the team said: “As a team we spend many hours training to carry stretchers - different kinds of stretcher in different conditions, although generally in the dark and rain, and through different terrains.

“It may sound like an odd way to spend your time but as this story shows it is absolutely worthwhile as the teams careful handling of the casualty can be the difference between a full recovery and life changing injuries.

“Thanks again to Janice and the other six ladies as well as everyone who sponsored them. Your donation will ensure that we keep training and will be ready for the next time that we are needed.”