A MAN has advised walkers to have what3words downloaded on their phones after the mobile application helped him when he needed rescuing from a Lake District fell.

Mike Potter was walking through bracken on his way down Holme Fell, near Coniston, when he lost his footing and dislocated his knee.

He and his fiancée, Amanda Taylor, had strayed from the main path.

However, rescuers were able to locate them with relative ease thanks to what3words, which the couple had downloaded in case of emergency.

The mobile application generates a unique combination of three words to pinpoint a person’s location for use by other people.

“It’s quite reassuring, just having it on your phone in the first place,” said Mr Potter, 56.

“And it appeared to work in our instance very well.

“It got them [rescuers] into the right area, and then they were able to shout.”

Mr Potter said he was about 20 minutes from the base of the fell when the accident occurred on Thursday.

“I lost footing with my left foot,” he said.

“So that slipped away and all my weight, plus a backpack, went down on my knee, on my right knee.

“I heard a big ‘clunk’ and I looked down and my knee was a funny shape.”

He said, however, that there was ‘not a lot of pain’ and that his main response was one of shock.

His thoughts immediately turned to partner Amanda, 52, who has autism.

“Keeping her calm was the first thing on my mind,” he said.

“Keeping everything level and asking her to go off and make a 999 call.”

Emergency services put the pair in touch with mountain rescuers, who used what3words to locate them.

After Mr Potter’s leg was back in a more natural position, he was stretchered off the fell for onward transport to Furness General in Barrow.

He is due to have surgery tomorrow.

Mr Potter, of Milton, a village in Oxfordshire, heaped praise on rescuers, who, he said, ‘took control of the situation’.