During last months floods, a lot nearer to me, I was out on a couple of evenings helping motorists out of trouble, etc. Jolly satisfying, and helps to offset some people's prejudice against 4x4's when they are suddenly indebted to one! All that, and you get to have a play in the water too - what more could you want?
So, who's up for going down to the affected area en masse and offering our help to the emergency services? Even standard Landies are useful, recovering vehicles, possessions, people, etc, but if you have a snorkel and/or a winch then all the better. I'll even get the first round in at the bar when we're finished :o)
I already have done, and will continue to do so, in our local area.
there are many Landrover (and other 4x4) clubs that run an 'emergency unit' or similar, for just such eventualities. Join a local club that does this and you might get to do it 'officially' ... in which case you might also get fuel and ration cards too. ;)
If you do it as an organised group registered with the council, in most cases you're covered for personal and public liability insurance by the council, check your own vehicle insurance though as you probably aren't covered for "volunteer" work so if your truck gets knackered you might either not be covered, or have to fib a bit that you were driving normally and not helping people (insurance companies eh!).
Also bear in mind what happens if you are ferrying someone to do some shopping or something similarly non-urgent and the truck breaks down or hits a submerged obstacle, and you're stuck in the middle of a newly-formed lake! So be careful and make sure you can get the passengers out safe.
And consider what happens if you damage someone's car while towing them, or worse injure, the way people are these days they won't think twice about suing you 8-(. Greg
With organised groups going via the council, most of them apparently cover you for that kind of thing. Not sure how much action you'd see although there was a good write-up in a Yorkshire paper about a local group that was helping out. Some details on the links I posted elsewhere in this thread. There are local groups for most areas, the links I posted earlier are an umbrella organisation (hehe) for the local groups.
We (Staffordshire Search & Rescue Team) are registered with the Category A responders in Staffs. We were called out last night by the Ambulance service to go down to Worcester to assist with possible evacuations from Upton. We are a recognised volunteer organisation with Staffs County Council
We have gone through an evaluation process with the council including test call-outs to measure our response. Insurance is an important factor and all our members must submit vehicle documents for inspection annually. (Driving licence insurance MOT.) Your vehicle must be properly insured for this type of work We also undertake CRB checks. Then and only then will the council give you public liability cover. We also undertake regular training exercises including such things as working with helicopters, first aid and working near water We carry team first aid kits and PFDs. Every member carries an ID card.
A number of vehicles arriving en masse may in fact only add to the problems, getting in the way of emergency vehicles. There is a lot of co-ordination going on behind the scenes which doesn't get shown on TV. I can assure you that what they don't want is the gung-ho I can get anywhere attitude which results in you putting people at risk and/or becoming a casualty yourself. You may know what you are capable of doing but they won't.
If you want to assist in future join an organisation such as ours our your local LR club then approach your local council if they haven't already done so. But don't expect lots of callouts - you'll be lucky if you get one a year because most of the time the professional emergency services and the statutory authorities actually cope very well. And even when called out you may find you sit around for hours doing nothing and then get stood down.
I reckon I'd let this bugger drown From the "Have your say" column on BBC news "In these dire emergency conditions, the selfishness that I have seen of
4x4 drivers has been utterly unbelievable.
4x4 vehicles should be banned."
He has a valid point a lot of 4x4 drivers have been purely selfish and done as much harm as good. Including the LR owner who got captured live on local radio driving through a flood at speed and swamping houses with his bow wave as well as soaking the reporter as he roared past.
Daved was on the dog and bone the day the rain came giving us a reminder you were there to help too.
Fortuneately nowt much happening in Staffs at the time other than an unseasonable drop in incident loading due to PC Rain clearing the streets and keeping fair weather criminals at bay. :-)
I do keep remining our lot you are there especially when needing resources for searches , Thankfully most peeps turn up PDQ.
All I'd say to anyone else wishing to join in is do it properly and make sure above all that you and your vehicle are insured.
And so was the moron in the Defender who tried to undertake myself and a queue of smaller cars proceeding steadily up a flooded A49 just because he could wade deeper and therefore didn't need to move over to the right hand side of the road. He passed two small cars behind me at speed l;eaving them wallowing in his bow wave, at this point I decided that seeing as I could wade as deep as him I'd move left and block his move, before he did some damage.
It may just be that the guy you call so freely call a "self righteous tosser" had encountered a few too manysimilar selfish acts?
I've certainly seen fenough selfish braindead LR drivers over the last few days to sympathise with anyone who has an anti 4x4 attitude!
.. just because he was in a vehicle more suited for the conditions? But despite that he had to crawl along at the same speed as those in lesser vehicles? Why?
Are you one of those people who prevents traffic from queueing in two lanes of a dual carriageway by moving into the second lane and stopping people from "pushing in"?
Tim Jones wrote: >>> I reckon I'd let this bugger drown From the "Have your say" >>> column on BBC news "In these dire emergency conditions, the >>> selfishness that I have seen of 4x4 drivers has been utterly >>> unbelievable. 4x4 vehicles should be banned." >> Why? >>
steve> Because he's a self-righteous tosser ? Steve
And it's self-righteous tossers that need to be banned, regardless of their choice of transport.
Would you choose to drive at speed down the inside of a queue of smaller cars creating a bow wave that was big enough to do them serious damage?
If so you're the same sort of selfish fool as he was. Are you really that stupid?
You're not the brightest of specimens are you. I could easily have done the same thing myself, but I was aware of the damage it could do. Maybe I should have let him through, we could really use some bad publicity for 4x4s and the drivers of the smaller cars in front of me were asking for trouble going out in such small and inferior vehicles !
If we act like selfish halfwits we'll soon get a ban on non essential
4x4 use and quite rightly so. You sound like the sort of idiot that'll be roundly to blame for this happening.
I respect what you do, but quite frankly the idea of jumping through that lot of politically correct hoops for one call out a year does not appeal 8-). It took my partner 3 months to get her CRB updated (just updated mind) when she changed employer recently. If you consider the admin costs of all this for the council you have to wonder if it's worth it. Greg
But given that you can't ban people just for their opinions you have to challenge their prejudices. What better way to do this by cheerfully assisting them in their time of need?
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