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4x4 response network

 
 
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DD
Mud Obsessed


Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Odometer: 9761
Location: Aberdeenshire


1986 Land Rover Defender

PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 7:53 pm    Post subject: 4x4 response network Reply with quote

Is anyone a member if a regional 4x4 response network, or been a member?

I'm thinking of looking at joining one but was hoping for some feedback.

Why would I join? Help the community, an excuse to put the landy to good use, maybe help reduce the negativity towards 4x4s, get some interesting training and of course socialize with like-minded people Smile

Does anyone have experience of how these groups are received/run etc? Hopefully not a bunch of pious do-gooders etc. do they really get called out or is it just bravado and wishful thinking........?

Cheers....

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LlaniGraham
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 8:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was one of the founding members of Powys 4x4 Response, that is now part of 4x4 Response Wales.

Why should you join? For all the reasons you have stated, plus lots of the Groups have a strong social side, including green laning, etc. Most Groups also encourage you to further your skills and arrange training in everything from winching to amateur radio.

In many parts of the country the groups are very well recieved, with formal help arrangements with everything from the Police, the Ambulance Services right down to the local District Nurses. With the current round of expenditure cuts I suspect that numbers will grow.

Most are now charities, so have to be a bit formal, but really no more than a local Motor Club. I have found very few "do-gooders" involved, just a bunch of people who want to help and have a bit of fun doing it. The "walts" also get ferretted out very quickly, so no blue lights!

Call outs? Certainly from the web site there have been plenty of call outs in the last couple of months, from Somerset across to East Anglia. In the past I have done lots of jobs ferrying Care Workers and Disrict Nurses around when it snowed.

Find your local team here:
http://www.4x4response.info/
and have a chat. I'm sure thay would be willing to answer any questions.

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MSA Radio WORCESTER 1
4x4 Response Wales
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mudplugga
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Location: Shropshire mostly, and Mid Wales



PostPosted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I was in the Powys one for a long time, but that was an accident of being in the Mid Wales 4x4 Club, living in Shropshire I never got a call.
It's a great thing though, a very useful service that puts something back in to the local community.

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Joined: 19 Jun 2002
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Location: Northern Ireland's Gold Coast


2009 Land Rover 110 CSW

PostPosted: Tue Jan 14, 2014 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I recently founded the NI 4X4 Response Network. We're not currently associated with the National 4X4 Response Network but instead work closely with the Red Cross due to the way disaster and contingency planning and response operates in NI.

I had volunteers out last week delivering sandbags to the elderly and vunerable at risk from flooding and last year we spent a lot of time helping out during the severe snow.

I find it very rewarding although it can take up a bit of time at the management level.

NI 4X4 Response Network is a registered charity although, up until now, I have funded the running costs myself. Volunteers are paid a mileage allowance when on duties originating through the Red Cross.

www.4x4response-ni.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/NI4x4Response

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RichardD
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Joined: 13 Mar 2003
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 2:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know of 4x4 response in Tay, Lothian & Borders and Strathclyde as well a Civil Defence Scotland who fulfil a slightly different role.

IIRC Strathclyde are very well set up with full involvement with Police Scotland's Resilience Group but struggle with numbers and funding.

My experience with S4x4R 4x4R in general is not very positive. First I found that local groups were very cliquey and seemed not to be doing much and then S4x4R started up but had LOADS of internal disputes that I became a casualty of. In Scotland at least all 4x4R members must have PVG clearance and NPPV (Non Police Personnel Vetting) clearance. The latter in my view is rather intrusive and you are left with no right of appeal. I was refused NPPV as a driver/responder and S4x4R declined to resubmit my NPPV application in any other role so I had no option but to resign as the Resilience Group apparently requires NPPV clearance for all 4x4R members. The other 4x4R groups in Scotland appear not to have that restriction.

S4x4R attended the snow crisis in Arran last year and did a grand job (not surprising given the level of dedication of the members) but I don't know of anything since then.

Not being a member, I believe, means that a 4x4 owner with an ounce of civic duty can actually do much more, more directly and quickly than a group like 4x4R but only very, very locally. I find these types of organisation too full of internal politics and people with personal agendas for my liking but that's just me.

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Xpajun
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Joined: 22 Sep 2008
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1988 Mitsubishi Shogun

PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

RichardD wrote:
I know of 4x4 response in Tay, Lothian & Borders and Strathclyde as well a Civil Defence Scotland who fulfil a slightly different role.

IIRC Strathclyde are very well set up with full involvement with Police Scotland's Resilience Group but struggle with numbers and funding.

My experience with S4x4R 4x4R in general is not very positive. First I found that local groups were very cliquey and seemed not to be doing much and then S4x4R started up but had LOADS of internal disputes that I became a casualty of. In Scotland at least all 4x4R members must have PVG clearance and NPPV (Non Police Personnel Vetting) clearance. The latter in my view is rather intrusive and you are left with no right of appeal. I was refused NPPV as a driver/responder and S4x4R declined to resubmit my NPPV application in any other role so I had no option but to resign as the Resilience Group apparently requires NPPV clearance for all 4x4R members. The other 4x4R groups in Scotland appear not to have that restriction.

S4x4R attended the snow crisis in Arran last year and did a grand job (not surprising given the level of dedication of the members) but I don't know of anything since then.

Not being a member, I believe, means that a 4x4 owner with an ounce of civic duty can actually do much more, more directly and quickly than a group like 4x4R but only very, very locally. I find these types of organisation too full of internal politics and people with personal agendas for my liking but that's just me.



No it's not I assure you Wink
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cynic-al
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 10:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I helped get NHS workers to work in the bad weather after a radio appeal. It was pretty badly managed and they didn't do any background checks on me. I did some very early and late runs which was fine but they kept ringing in the day too even though every time I told them I worked in the day. They just couldn't understand why I was at work in the bad weather. They then sent me a letter saying they wouldn't keep my details for data protection reasons but contacted me the following year to see if I would be willing to do it again?! I said yes initially but they then required proof of me having business insurance but still didn't put any requirement in place to check my background so refused to do it anymore.

In terms of organisations there seem to be loads around here. The main man in one of them seems to have upset one of the members who seems to have setup an alternative group with the sole aim of having a go at the bloke he fell out with so I don't want anything to do with them.

Another group seems to be full of wannabe soldiers who are obsessed with lights who I genuinely think would get in the way in any serious situation.

I think what I'm saying is before I got involved I would want it formalising a bit with an organisation having a recognised status with the emergency services and an agreed structure. Is that asking too much of a voluntary organisation?

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DD
Mud Obsessed


Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Odometer: 9761
Location: Aberdeenshire


1986 Land Rover Defender

PostPosted: Wed Jan 15, 2014 11:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Excellent stuff guys.....some homework to be done here methinks.

Appreciate it.
Don

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90 v8 for fun
110 XS CSW daily drive
'I came, I saw, I locked the diff'
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.
Difflock Royalty


Joined: 19 Jun 2002
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Location: Northern Ireland's Gold Coast


2009 Land Rover 110 CSW

PostPosted: Thu Jan 16, 2014 8:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

cynic-al wrote:

I think what I'm saying is before I got involved I would want it formalising a bit with an organisation having a recognised status with the emergency services and an agreed structure. Is that asking too much of a voluntary organisation?


That's the way NI4X4RN is set up. We have a formal MoU with the Red Cross who, in turn, have MoU's with the Councils, Health Trusts and Blue light Services. Has all worked pretty well so far.

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???? the V8 90 CSW
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ukjeeper
Off-Road Guru


Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Odometer: 1135




PostPosted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Spent the day on exercise with the local 4x4 response team. 'Rescuing' a scout group trapped in Danbury woods by fallen trees.

Fortunately the fallen trees were real so we got to play with winches. Also had to move move a car, all so the emergency services could get access to the 'victims'. and then we transported the casualties to the rescue station.


All in all, a bit of a grin, but also a chance to practice with Red Cross and the ham operators.

Pics are up. I show up in the pics about 11:35.

http://bosuncam.org.uk/index2013/140202/index_2.html
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