4x4+Snow=good, 4x4-Snow=bad

[Ian James]

Well resisted!

Part of the problem with drifting snow is the move to intensive cereal growing, creating fields which cover vast areas and having done away with the traditional hedgerows, walls & ditches which used to 'trap' the snow - all in the pursuit of cheap food. So it's really all our faults.......

We have all shapes and sizes but the fields close to home are all around 20 acres all with a hedge dividing them there is allso a concrete track that runs through the middle it is about 4 foot deep in snow and the lane down from the village was 6 foot deep in places

 

[indy4x]

4x4 response what a bunch of muppets they are, all they seem good at is getting in the way followed by extorting donations out of those that don't know any better while polishing each others egos and admireing there flashy lights, the amount of fuss and bother they can make out of a minor issue is just incredible

I take serious offence at that comment, don't tar everyone with the same brush

Have been involved with 4x4 Response for 8 years and manage a group in South East Wales. There are only about 20 in the team and the focus is not on flashy lights or wearing Hi Viz but there are situations where they are appropriate but personally have never had any on my 4x4's but have been times when having them would have improved my safety,

We are just a bunch of normalish guys who go out and help. We do focus on ensuring all the guys who volunteer are suitably assessed and trained where necessary and work to be as professional as other volunteer groups like MR.


We are from all different backgrounds and have different interests, some overlap but mainly we do it because we care.

Why else would we have been putting in some cases 16hr days from Thursday until this morning using our vehicles making sure that staff in the NHS get to do their jobs. It's not just about Hospitals there are very many patients that are cared for at home and without volunteers they wouldn't get the care they so desperately need

We don't get paid, just basic fuel allowance to cover mileage and if your vehicle gets broken or damaged you stump up the cost of the repairs.

There have been severe weather situations in the past where we have been working 24/7 and 2 of the team did over 1000 miles each running 12 hrs at a time around the Welsh valleys

Don't do it for gratitude we do it cos we care

Rant over for now

 

[indy4x]

Will carry on reading the rest of the thread now

 

[indy4x]

There was allso a female driver Michelle mueton I think it was she could drive it as well and the sound of that quotro on the forest stages wowwww

In my teenage years used to go into Rheola forest to watch the Lombard, it was always dark, cold, wet but the sight and sounds of the Group B cars was something else, have always loved the Quattros

 

[Robotstar5]

In my teenage years used to go into Rheola forest to watch the Lombard, it was always dark, cold, wet but the sight and sounds of the Group B cars was something else, have always loved the Quattros

I did the same in the 80's, would normally manage to get to 3 or 4 stages, one cold year it was warmer at 0300 in a Welsh forest compared with mid day on the Great Orme stage

 

[GW8IZR]

In my teenage years used to go into Rheola forest to watch the Lombard, it was always dark, cold, wet but the sight and sounds of the Group B cars was something else, have always loved the Quattros

Walk for miles in dark , stand in the cold dark, hear a whistle and growl of a Quat and see a blur of Cibies, freeze for a while in the dark, walk back to the car in the dark, sleep in the car, consult map, drive to next stage.. repeat until endex, drive to work.

 

[Robotstar5]

Walk for miles in dark , stand in the cold dark, hear a whistle and growl of a Quat and see a blur of Cibies, freeze for a while in the dark, walk back to the car in the dark, sleep in the car, consult map, drive to next stage.. repeat until endex, drive to work.

Been there, done that that's why I got into Rally recovery and later rescue ambulance, drive to start or mid-point of stage for grand stand view of competitors

 

[dannyp]

every time i've met 4x4 response there is allways some jobsorth dishing out really dull instuctions you know one of those people who is never given the chance to make desisions in day to day life ( thankfully )

last time i met them round here they were collecting volantry compulory donations of a £5 for a comfort tow or £10 for recovery. problem was they were stopping all traffic 1/3 of the way up the hill, ( for safety ) on a sligtly flatter bit just before it got steep so it was now inpossible to stamp up it unaided i'd been up and down it 5-6 times that morning before they got there in a fwd hatch.

wasent there somehing with the iow festival when one of there members ran off with all the money.

my opinion of them isn't set in concrete it'll change if my experances of them change dosent help tho when ive had to pull a few of them out the hedge before in really daft places, thankfully this year i've not met them tractors were getting stuck so stayed by the fire

 

[DAPPH]

A few years ago i used to see fields with temporary chestnut pailing fencing in them. The fence was put up in winter about 50 yrds into the field away from the road.
Any snow drifts would start at this fencing and form in the fields leaving the roads clear

The bright orange holes on a roll high viz plastic safety fencing is often used with the iron stakes to slow such snow drifting . It's a darn sight cheaper than chestnut palings & very quick to put up & take down .

 

[Tinbasherdan]

I take serious offence at that comment, don't tar everyone with the same brush

Have been involved with 4x4 Response for 8 years and manage a group in South East Wales. There are only about 20 in the team and the focus is not on flashy lights or wearing Hi Viz but there are situations where they are appropriate but personally have never had any on my 4x4's but have been times when having them would have improved my safety,

We are just a bunch of normalish guys who go out and help. We do focus on ensuring all the guys who volunteer are suitably assessed and trained where necessary and work to be as professional as other volunteer groups like MR.


We are from all different backgrounds and have different interests, some overlap but mainly we do it because we care.

Why else would we have been putting in some cases 16hr days from Thursday until this morning using our vehicles making sure that staff in the NHS get to do their jobs. It's not just about Hospitals there are very many patients that are cared for at home and without volunteers they wouldn't get the care they so desperately need

We don't get paid, just basic fuel allowance to cover mileage and if your vehicle gets broken or damaged you stump up the cost of the repairs.

There have been severe weather situations in the past where we have been working 24/7 and 2 of the team did over 1000 miles each running 12 hrs at a time around the Welsh valleys

Don't do it for gratitude we do it cos we care

Rant over for now

There are some good teams such as yours, good lads who have their heads screwed on and are professional, but some of the teams are just complete wombles on power trips, such as the one that jumped in front of me while I was on blues and twos responding to a suspected heart attack at a charity event, because “it was HIS checkpoint, and I needed HIS permission to continue” or the one from the same team at the same event that decided to screech and bawl at me for parking in the road outside the first aid tent, while my medic was assessing a casualty.

From what I’ve seen the teams, whilst loosely attached to a overall association, seem to be relatively free to police themselves, which leads to groups with good lads that keep the crap out , and other teams that seem to be entirely made up of the hi viz wearing dross, and whilst ALL were out in the snow, you know as well as I do there were lads with 4x4 response group stickers on that were there purely to look good, and were more of a danger to people than the weather.

 

[indy4x]

@dannyp

They are not all like that, while there is a 4x4 Response UK organisation each group is autonomous and is organised differently. If someone in our group suggested that charging for a tow would be a good idea they would soon be put right it's just not done.

We also weed out any Walter Mitty type characters, peeps that get excited about flashy lights and being important are not required

As with all groups there have been internal conflicts which don't always end well but that's life

 

[indy4x]

@Tinbasherdan quite possibly and very unfortunate when it does happen, can't speak for all of the groups across the UK, have worked with a few and the guys I have met were professional. When stupid actions like that are discovered steps should be taken to address them and we certainly would

Professional conduct is vital, it takes ages to build a good image and 5mins to trash it

We did event support for Endurance GB and there was another voluntary org there doing communications, one of their guys was a complete muppet and kicked off at the end of the day with a very public rant, if he was one of mine he would be on his way as he completely undermined and destroyed their groups reputation

 

[dannyp]

what got my back up was a muppet standing there the donation is this much and if you dont and get stuck its twice as much. but we've stoped you right where momentum is needed.

if i actually got stuck id be more than happy to give a reasonable donation but i a lot of places my personal view is if its obviously a working viechel thats been out on it all day if it or the driver wasent capable it'd be stuck long ago, if not a few driver tips takes far less effort, that hill is a prime example drop 10 psi out the tyers hold a steady 20-30 mph and you'll fly up there.

 

[indy4x]

@dannyp

No doubt about it, it was stupid and just plain wrong, they guy was a muppet but unfortunately they are everywhere and no organisation is immune, just need to keep weeding them out

But making out that everyone in 4x4 Response across the UK is a muppet is just not on because of the stupidity of a few

 

[dab4318]

what got my back up was a muppet standing there the donation is this much and if you dont and get stuck its twice as much. but we've stoped you right where momentum is needed.

if i actually got stuck id be more than happy to give a reasonable donation but i a lot of places my personal view is if its obviously a working viechel thats been out on it all day if it or the driver wasent capable it'd be stuck long ago, if not a few driver tips takes far less effort, that hill is a prime example drop 10 psi out the tyers hold a steady 20-30 mph and you'll fly up there.

I'm from Herefordshire and know a few boys that used to do 4x4 response, not sure if they still do but I could imagine them being power mad.

I'm sure they are not all like that like Indy says but the ones around here seem to think they are something special and only in it for the money.

 

[indy4x]

Guys, not being part of the Hereford team I can't comment on their members. I have met a few and they certainly didn't come across as being Muppets or on a power trip however it's not a representative sample.

@dab4318 not sure where the money is, we are all volunteers, only money we see is a fuel allowance when called out and our group is not cash rich by any measure

I have emailed the Hereford lead to ask for an explanation around what dannyp mentioned as it's quite frankly bonkers

 

[dannyp]

I'm from Herefordshire and know a few boys that used to do 4x4 response, not sure if they still do but I could imagine them being power mad.

id hope the muppets have wobbeld off to somewhere else leaving the more sensible ones, not bumped into any of them in the last couple years so hopefully there is a good chance. the idea of it is good. and if most of the groups are like how indy4x describes its a mostly good outfit, and just ive bumped into the numptys in the past. haveing met indy4x and as it turns out he's a member of one of the groups rases my opinon of them quite a lot actually. right out in the rural sticks of wales it probaly works a lot better and can do more good than in and around hereford

 

[dannyp]

But making out that everyone in 4x4 Response across the UK is a muppet is just not on because of the stupidity of a few

well ive met you and don't think your a muppet, that quite drasticly lowers the % of muppet. i'll still avoid them if at all possible tho as if its all flooded and or frozen and i'm driveing about in it i probaly have been all day whilst wet and cold for most of it from fixing broken things. tolerance of muppets on such days isn't much tho