A man was rescued by a Highways worker in the St Teath area as the predicted snow began falling across North and East Cornwall at lunchtime on Tuesday week, Cornwall Council moved additional staff and resources into the area to help maintain essential services and keep the main routes open.

The Council's Emergency Centre in New County Hall was opened at 7am to co-ordinate the agencies' response to the developing situation. This included representatives of the Council's Emergency Management service, Highways, the Council's Directorates of Adult Care and Support and Children's Schools and Families, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service, Devon and Cornwall Police, and the Primary Care Trust who have been liaising with the MET Office and the Highways Agency and the Environment Agency throughout the day.

Having carried out precautionary salting runs on all the county's A and B roads on Monday week evening, the Council's fleet of 25 gritters carried out further precautionary salting of the main roads at 5am on Tuesday morning.

The gritter lorries then returned to the Council depots to refill with salt and grit, and for snowploughs to be fixed to the front of the vehicles, before being sent to east and north Cornwall to deal with any heavy falls of snow in the area.

"Following the forecasts of heavy snow in the north and east, we moved some of our resources from the west of the county to this part of Cornwall," said Simon Deacon, Highways Operations Managers for Cornwall Council. "This meant that we were able to move quickly when the snow started falling at lunchtime.

"Further gritting was carried out on routes in the north and east of the county and we sent crews to deal with specific problems as they arose. Crews had also dealt with incidents of localised flooding in some parts of West Cornwall."

One Highways worker helped to save the life of a man from the St Teath area when he discovered him lying unconscious in the snow. Simon Trevains, a Works Co-ordinator who usually covers the Central Cornwall area, was checking the condition of the minor roads in the St Teath area, when he passed what he thought was a pile of clothes lying by the side of the road.

Having driven past, Simon suddenly thought that something was not right and went back to the area to discover that the bundle of rags was, in fact, a man lying in the snow. He immediately called the paramedics to the scene. Unfortunately the ambulance got stuck on the way to the area with Simon helping to release the vehicle and guide the ambulance crews to the casualty who was then taken to hospital.