News and events around the network this week.

[Bob Hatcher]

This week has been busy in many ways

Starting with an inaugural meeting of West Midlands 4x4 Response at Tong in Staffordhsire.



On 14/12/09



Hertfordshire 4x4 Response, BHC 4x4 Response and Breckland Rover Rescue were placed on standby by East of England Ambulance Service in case of distruption by forecasted snow.



On the 15 December



Hertfordshire 4x4 Response signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council to provide support to their Meals on Wheel Service in the event of severe weather.



16th December



Hertfordshire 4x4 Response were placed on standby by Hertfordshire County Council Social Care and by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council.



Then the snow arrived the following gives some idea of what teams have been upto



4x4RNE responded to a call from Northern Doctors Urgent Care on 19/12/09.

4 teams (8 units) attended over night (18:00 to 06:00) ensuring doctors could attend calls.

Most requirements where in North Tyneside and Northumberland but also in Southern Scotland.

Feed back from NDUC indicated that they were extremely happy with the service provided.



No information as to ongoing requirements at this time.



BHC 4x4 Response (Covering Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire) were called out in the early hours of this morning (18/12/09) to help supply food and drink to motorists stranded on the A1 in Bedfordshire, after a Lorry overturned and closed the road. The local Sainsburys store supplied drinks and food free of charge, which our volunteers distributed, they then ended up helping the Police and Highways Agency in clearing the shed load of soft drinks and getting the road cleared and open again.

A very successful call out with good feed back from all the organizations involved.



BHC 4x4 Response were called out this morning (20/12/09) to Caddington, just outside Luton, where a burst water main had filled the Gas supply with water. We spent most of the day delivering electric heaters and hobs to the elderly and vulnerable residents, as well as collecting some of these, along with equipment for National Grid Gas, from there local depot.



We were just about to stand down late this afternoon, after completing all our deliveries, when the power cuts started, due to the extra load on the system as temperatures started dropping and people started using the heaters and hobs, we were then transporting search and rescue teams around to knock on doors and assess the extent of the power failures.



Finally stood down at 20.00 this evening, but still have a couple of members on standby and a couple on duty at the village from 08.00 tomorrow morning.



Hertfordshire 4x4 Response received one call to assist with meals on wheels deliveries around Welwyn Garden City and three others to assist home carers reach their clients, two in the St Albans area and one around Rickmansworth. Four vehicles deployed in total.



Hertfordshire 4x4 Response received another request to assist with meals on wheels deliveries in Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield on Saturday. one more to assist a home carer reaching her visits in the Bricket Wood area at 07.00 Saturday morning, three vehicles deployed in the event. The home care call was cancelled after meeting up with the carer, having driven to the RVP she was confident enough to drive herself so the call was cancelled by mutual agreement.



Two more social care calls on Sunday morning following further significant snow fall, South Oxhey and Waltham Cross Areas. Two vehicles deployed for meals on wheels deliveries, Hatfield area.



Northamptonshire 4x4 Response report that they were tasked with the following



1/ We started the morning with Drug and Blood sample runs for Kettering General Hospital

2/ 4 team members went on standby for Northampton Home Care services and had several call outs taking Community nurses on there rounds

3/ Several call outs to take key workers into Northampton General Hospital

4/ 5 team members where on call out for Kettering General Hospital in the afternoon/ Evening to transport key workers like theatre nurses, Maternity and Doctors etc

5/ 2 Team members on call out with the PCT community nurses on there rounds (Steve has only just finished)

6/ We have had team members on call with UKOS helping the Blue light services on 999 calls these are due to finish at 2am



So far we have 10 team members on call out for tomorrow morning and a further 5 anticipated for the afternoon all on similar duties to the above



South East England 4x4 Response report



South East 4x4 Response received a total of 25 requests of help over the last couple of days, 29 members have been involved in the operations (including my wife who was thrown in at the deep end controlling) 29 vehicles have been used over the last couple of days with many members undertaking multiple callouts.



Wessex 4x4 Response were called by Great Western Ambulance Service at approximately midnight on Sunday 20/12/09 rapidly followed by a call from Avon & Somerset Police, due to heavy snow in the city of Bristol and along the Bristol Channel coast, 8 units have been deployed to a varety of tasks.



Yorks & Lincs 4x4 Response are also known to have been involved in a number of calls, a report is awaited