Stella Collins, got into difficulty whilst walking in Ribblesdale, North Yorkshire, when she was charged by a cow a number of times, leaving her with serious injuries. The emergency services were called and they were able to quickly locate and save the 60-year-old because she gave them her location using the What3Words app.

The app attaches a three-word code for every 3m x 3m square on Earth, allowing emergency services to pinpoint exactly where the user is calling from. For example, you can enter ///balanced.overlaid.opened to find the peak of Pen-y-ghent, in the Yorkshire Dales.

Stella, who was on a walking holiday in North Yorkshire with her husband Geoff when she was attacked, said: "I never realised cows could be so aggressive. I know they had their calves but we were nowhere near them, we weren't pestering them in any shape of form.

"While I was under the cow and it was stamping all over me I could hear Geoff screaming, absolutely screaming, with such anguish in his voice, that I thought 'I'm going to die.”

After initially managing to get to her feet as the cow turned its attentions to her husband, she was knocked to the ground again, and said: "Again I was catapulted into the air, and this time she just stamped and stamped and stamped. Geoff said it was like I was being tossed around like a rag doll."

Geoff added: “It was a shock seeing Stella being rolled over and not being able to do anything about it."

The incident was recently featured on the TV show Helicopter ER. Stella was taken to Preston Hospital, which took 15 minutes rather than the hour it would have taken by road. She was rescued by cave and fell rescuers, while road ambulances and an air ambulance were all called to the scene to help her.

She suffered serious injuries including broken ribs and severe soft tissue damage and said her gluteal muscles were "torn away" from her bones. Since the attack, she has undergone extensive physiotherapy, specialist treatment and had psychological help for post-traumatic stress disorder.

She decribed herself as “super active” before the incident earlier this year, but said the phsyical and mental toll of her ordeal means she finds it difficult now. Speaking of her PTSD, she said: “I still get it but I don't react so much now unless it's a stressful situation like someone else's dog running up to me. I can do walking and that's it. I personally won't walk in a field of cows again.

"Always have a phone with you and have the What3Words app. If you do need [emergency services], that can pinpoint exactly where you are.”

More than 80 per cent of the UK’s emergency services use the What3Words app.

Woman 'catapulted into the air' after being charged by a cow while walking in Yorkshire