A British hiker was hit with a huge £12,200 bill after Italian emergency rescue services saved him from an avalanche on a rocky mountain, blaming Brexit for the lofty fine.
The 60-year-old found himself in danger as he came across an avalanche on a mountain path near the San Vito di Cadore in the Belluno area of the Dolomites.
The hiker was lucky to survive, according to emergency services, who blamed the British national for failing to heed mountain warning signs urging climbers to turn back on the steep mountain.
He would have also footed a smaller bill had the ordeal happened before Britain exited the European Union, rescue services said.
The British man was hiking on the Ferrata Berti path at a height of 8,200ft (2,500m), even though there were signs in English and Italian urging hikers to turn back.
He is understood to have set off alone for the trek from Passo Tre Croci, near Cortina d’Ampezzo, on Thursday morning.
‘He said he didn’t see the signs warning of the danger,’ Nicola Cherubin, head of alpine rescue in San Vito di Cadore, told The Telegraph.
She added: ‘Rocks have been falling continually in that area for the past two months. With these landslides it is not secure. He was really afraid.’
Rockfalls are commonplace in the Dolomites, but experts this year have sounded the alarm about a drastic increase in the number of collapses due to extreme heat.
A collapse on the Marmolada mountain, the highest mountain of the Dolomites, in 2022 sent an avalanche of snow, rock and ice downslope, killing 11 people.
At least 83 people have died on the Italian Alps between June 21 and July 23 this year, with five more going missing.
Soaring temperatures are attracting inexperienced hikers to the mountain range, causing people to get into danger as they turn up ill-equipped in unsuitable clothing and footwear.
Overcrowding of the trails has led to calls for better management and protection for the rocky environment.
After becoming panicked by falling rocks, the British hiker sounded the alarm at 3.30 pm.
A helicopter was sent to save him by the volunteer rescue service but it was initially delayed by low clouds, forcing it to make a second trip to confirm the hiker’s location.
He was brought to safety and suffered no injuries, but is now being asked to pay a bill of £12,200 to the regional health service for the rescue operation because he is British.
‘If someone calls because they are tired or stuck because they find themselves in a place where they shouldn’t be, or if they are unharmed with no health issue, they have to pay,’ a national rescue service spokesman told The Telegraph.
‘If you are from outside the EU without insurance, you have to pay more.’
While non-EU nationals must pay a substantial fee if they get themselves into trouble while climbing, Italian or French hikers will only have to pay a few hundred euros.
The Ferrata Berti hike trail is officially closed from both approaches, at Cortina and San Vito di Cadore, due to ongoing rockfalls caused by a landslide on Croda Marcora.
Despite warning signs, hikers were still accessing the route.
Rescuers from San Vito and Cortina have been transported by regional helicopters to place more signs on the mountain range to block the hiking passage, making it impossible for climbers not to notice the closure.
In July, a British hiker who went missing in the Italian Alps was found dead near where he sent his final texts to friends.
Search teams spotted the body of 33-year-old Matthew Hall who disappeared on July 9 after he sent a text message to friends saying he was lost in the mountains.
