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4x4 Response UK

McBeardy

McBeardy

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Are there any LRUKers who are also members of 4x4 Response UK?

I'd not heard of them before, but after seeing a 110 locally recently with some of their stickers on, I looked them up. There's some old posts in this forum mentioning them and would like a fresh view on them.
 
Not I, though I did consider it. We were first responders for a few years, given the distances any medical help has to travel to get out here. There still the defibrillator in the village, and we have new responders... I'm just not fit enough now.

I see they are looking for volunteers in Caithness....
 
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It seems like a worthwhile thing to do. One of my concerns about volunteering would be the number of drivers who'd get stuck in snow. I don't know if my patience would last any length of time.

They're also looking for volunteers in the South East. They have a 'meet and greet' in February, which I might go along to.
 
Yep I ve had dealings with one of them in Sheffield 2yrs ago , twat pulled out on me in middle of Sheffield whe I was in wife evoque ,after a heated argument at the traffic lights his excuse was he was responding to a call out 😵‍💫🧐😂, very rude ,arrogant ,sure they are not all the same .
 
If it's the same group I'm thinking about we let them use our off-road course a couple of years ago to practice vehicle recovery.
Not been in touch since then. Seemed like a nice bunch at the time.

On a separate note, I was a First Responder for a while. All got a bit political in our area. Resigned when the NHS tried to pin the death of a patient on a fellow responder (who was never called out) to cover for their ambulance not turning up. NHS wanted the extra cover First Responders provided, but stabbed one in the back to cover their own failing. The lady was put through hell. I wasn't comfortable 'working for them' after that.
 
From what I understand they have different groups that cover the UK. I'd imagine group dynamics vary from place to place.

That's a lot of responsibility and not one I'd be entirely comfortable with.
 
Dynamics range from area to area. As with many organisations of the ilk that are unregulated, it’s hit and miss. Some groups are good, with a clear view of their role and responsibility as logistics etc in support of regulated teams, others are the good old hi Viz and camo trousers brigade waiting for the next big shout.

I was a SAR technician and driver for a while. We had 4x4 response (who were providing road closure support) jump in front of our ambulance when I was driving at an event to tell us we were going too fast and he wasn’t going to allow us through. The reason I was going “fast”? I was on a bluelight response to a male suffering a suspected heart attack and was needed to ferry him from the fell area to the ambulance crew waiting at the nearest point they could access (main checkpoint, 5ish miles away).

I had a few very short words with him and pushed through his barrier to continue on whilst a copper “advised” him on his place in the system.

In the right place, time and with the right group they are invaluable assets, unfortunately some of them do get carried away and forget they aren’t a blue light team with the requisite permissions
 
McBeardy said:
Thanks, @dannym2710, you've summed up my concerns rather well. Especially if the local lot are like this...
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Not a problem. Approach them carefully and get a feel for what they are about. I’m not sure how you stand with insurance etc with these groups either. I do see some on Facebook conducting training days etc which suggests to me they have some form of overarching insurance but it still would be a concern of mine!
 
Hitchhiker42 said:
If it's the same group I'm thinking about we let them use our off-road course a couple of years ago to practice vehicle recovery.
Not been in touch since then. Seemed like a nice bunch at the time.

On a separate note, I was a First Responder for a while. All got a bit political in our area. Resigned when the NHS tried to pin the death of a patient on a fellow responder (who was never called out) to cover for their ambulance not turning up. NHS wanted the extra cover First Responders provided, but stabbed one in the back to cover their own failing. The lady was put through hell. I wasn't comfortable 'working for them' after that.
Click to expand...
Yep . That’s the danger in the modern litigious world we live in that you become by association part of a formal system.
A sad world .
 
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