TRADERS sprang into action to save a frail Bewdley pensioner with the help of a radio alert network set up to catch wandering shoplifters.

Paramedics were treating 93-year-old Fred Harvatt within minutes of him falling in his Welch Gate garden, after shop owners used the radio system to call in the emergency services.

Traders used the radios - which more than 30 businesses use to keep in touch about troublemakers coming their way - to alert the police, who were on the scene in minutes.

Traders then used the devices to divert traffic around emergency vehicles parked in the narrow Welch Gate, which leads into the town from Bark Hill.

Colin Billingham, who set up the scheme last year, said: "We heard a voice calling for help and we realised it was Fred. I was able to put a call out straight away on the radio to the police.

"Fred was in a bad way and, with two paramedics vehicles plus one police car, traffic was building up on both sides of the Welch Gate. Something had to be done. Another trader and I spent the next two hours with our radios moving traffic down Welch Gate.

"It just proves that, not only is the Radio Link System good for prevention of crime, it also serves as a community asset."

Mr Harvatt suffered cuts and bruises and a broken hip in the fall, last Monday, but was comfortable after undergoing surgery at Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Bob Bromley, who runs Petcetera in Load Street and worked with Mr Billingham to navigate the traffic for the rescue, said the radios had proved to be an "absolutely fantastic" community asset.

He said: "It is another example of how successful it is. Not only did we not have to shut Welch Gate but it also kept the traffic flowing through the town. Everybody was very calm and collected as a result. We are quite proud of it."

WPC Julie-May Adams - who passed the call from Mr Billingham to the ambulance service over her radio - said: "It was a community working together and it worked so, so well. Everyone was working together as one big unit. I was very pleased with the whole thing."