4X4 team all geared up to help people beat the bad weather

While many of us breathe a sigh of relief when we reach home after travelling through blizzards, a group of 4x4 enthusiasts are out and about on the roads helping those predominantly working in the care professions to reach their destinations.

Elderly people who rely on meals delivered to their doors and housebound patients who require professional care in the home or need to see a doctor are just some of the many clients assisted by the West Yorkshire 4x4 Volunteers.

Launched in 2011, the group of 4x4 owners decided to put to good use their enjoyment of driving in severe weather conditions.

Driving medics to their patients is one element of their role. They also played a vital part in last year’s flooding in Mytholmroyd, blocking roads to prevent people passing and transporting people, including emergency services, through the floods.

“That was a bit surreal. The road in between disappeared and going through water which was over your car bonnet was quite scary,” says Paul Cartwright, treasurer of the West Yorkshire 4x4 Volunteers group.

But for Paul, who drives a Vauxhall Frontera, and his fellow volunteers, it was all in a day’s work.

“We work all the way through the year,” he says.

Paul’s interest in 4x4s stems from childhood. “It is a different kind of driving, it is challenging and it is something different,” he says.

As well as helping people reach their destinations in severe weather, the group also assists organisations such as the police, West Yorkshire Ambulance Service, local authorities and charities.

In doing so they are keen to promote 4x4s in a positive way. Paul says the vehicles sometimes get a bad press, because of their size and ‘gas-guzzling’ reputation.

“Some 4x4s get a bit of stick so we set up the group to promote them in a good light and to help local communities. A lot of our parents and grandparents are in care homes and there is a need to get staff into these places, which is what we can do,” says Paul.

He and other volunteers spent two or three days during last month’s heavy snowfalls driving doctors and care workers to places where they were needed. Initially the volunteers started doing six-hour shifts but increasing demand forced many of them to stay on, manning phones. Some even slept in the office, based in Cleck-heaton.

Paul recalls that on the first day of the recent snow some of the staff were manning the office round the clock. They dealt with 107 calls and the volunteer drivers, ranging in ages from 18 to 69, travelled around 1,200 miles. The furthest destination was Greater Manchester.

“Obviously we like driving in snow, but the whole point of the group is to help local people. We are open to any business who wants us to help them,” says Paul.

The self-funded group, based at Moorlands Ex-servicemen’s club in Cleckheaton, is hoping to seek charitable status to help it maintain its service. Donations also help the volunteers to carry on their vital work.

There are currently 50 members, but Paul says they’re hoping to recruit more volunteers. He says many people have expressed an interest in joining following the latest bout of bad weather.

“We had people trying to join up but we couldn’t send them out without being trained,” says Paul.

The group assesses the driving capability of potential volunteers, and trains them, before sending them out on the road in severe weather. All drivers undergo an induction and training programme before attending calls.

“The skill is knowing what your vehicle can do safely and what you can do as well because most 4x4s will do a lot more than you think they can. It’s down to driver training and learning what the vehicle is capable of doing,” he says.

The group holds monthly meetings, ensuring drivers are up to speed with training and legislation.

Their aim is to increase funds to recruit more drivers. The group is liaising with other organisations which could benefit from their service.

For more information, visit www.wy4x4vol.org.