A signal from a mobile phone was used to trace a woman pilot who crashed her plane during heavy snowfall in the Cotswolds.

The 53-year-old from Bicester, who has not been named, dialled 999 from her phone yesterday to tell police that she was injured and stranded in a field.

Using the signal from her mobile, officers managed to pinpoint her location to the Corndean Lane area of Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.

It was too cloudy to scramble the police helicopter, so officers with torches began searching the area on foot.

Insp Tony Rymer, of Gloucestershire police, said: "Officers searching the fields in heavy snow were able to move in the right direction with the woman guiding them by saying how well she could see their torches.

"She had managed to get away from the aircraft but she was unable to walk to safety as she had a leg injury.

"She was located and then carried across the fields to a waiting ambulance."

The woman, who was alone in the single-engine light aircraft, was taken to Cheltenham General Hospital with a hip injury and hypothermia.

The air crash investigation authority has been informed. Have you been badly affected by the snow and cold weather?

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