A MAN was rescued by police last week after he crashed his motorbike and landed in a field.

And North Ayrshire’s top cop has praised his officers for their fast-thinking and ‘good, old-fashioned police work’.

On Thursday morning, the male was travelling on his bike on the B780 between Dalry and Ardrossan when he came off it and landed in a field.

The man had badly injured his back and he managed to use his mobile phone to contact his mother, who in turn contacted the police to let them know.

Chief Inspector Brian Shaw explained: “At 10.46am on Thursday, we received a call from a member of the public who told us that her son had been injured in a crash and he was on his own and unable to advise his exact location.”

The man had been heading to spend the day fishing and was not familiar with his surroundings so it took intuition and a sizeable police response to locate him.

Chief Inspector Shaw continued: “Fearing for injury, Police Scotland launched a sizeable search and rescue operation, utilising a large number of officers and the police helicopters.

“The male was unable to tell where he was and utilising the control room to speak to him on his mobile phone we used sirens and the helicopter to coordinate the sounds to narrow in on his location.”

A proud CI Shaw beamed as he spoke of his officers work and said: “This was good, old-fashioned police work. The man was in long grass and he would not have been able to be seen if it wasn’t for the officers.

“This was terrific work by local officers, the police helicopter and the area control room.”

The man was rushed to hospital less than an hour after cops received the initial call but he was conscious and breathing when ambulance personnel arrived on the scene.