THE Greater Manchester Police helicopter is proving a vital asset in fighting crime around Bolton, according to a new report.

And in the report to the region's police authority tomorrow - recording the air support unit's work during the last year- police chiefs highlight two incidents in Bolton to outline the success of the team's work.

In the first incident the helicopter team used thermal imaging equipment to find a man stuck in the icy waters of the River Tonge in January. Once they spotted him, officers on the ground were quickly able to rescue him.

And when a car thief raced a stolen vehicle across the Old Links Golf Course in February the airborne thermal image camera again proved invaluable when the driver tried to run off under the cover of darkness.

During the six months from October 1996 to March this year the helicopter attended 1,498 incidents around Greater Manchester.

But a plan to expand the air support unit by buying a fixed wing aircraft has been grounded because a bid for Home Office funding has failed.

Staff are now looking at other ways of obtaining funding to get the project off the ground.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.