Wessex 4x4 Response

Volunteer Emergency Logisitics

Going the extra mile for our communities

At Wessex 4x4 Response, we...
Assist Police
Our partnership with the police enables their experts to focus on their vital roles during major incidents.
Wessex 4x4 Response
Support large events
Pivotal role in the vehicle logistics and support for events such as Glastonbury Festival, Race for Life and Carnivals around the regions.
Wessex 4x4 Response
Support health and care sector
Providing essential transport for health and care professionals and their equipment during severe weather conditions.
Wessex 4x4 Response
Foster community involvement
Supporting various community events, from supporting Naomi House Hospice to repainting the Air Ambulance hanger floor.
Wessex 4x4 Response
Promote social engagement
We build camaraderie and team spirit through regular social events, including pub meets and off-road play days.
Wessex 4x4 Response
Support search and rescue teams
Our provision of vehicles enables rescue teams to swiftly and safely reach those in need.
Wessex 4x4 Response
Multi-agency training
We participate in exercises and training events alongside partner agencies.
Wessex 4x4 Response
Provide disaster response
e.g. In severe flooding, we aid in evacuations, transport key workers, deliver supplies, and assist with road closures.

Here's why you should join Wessex 4x4 Response

As a member, you’ll join a dedicated group of volunteers who are passionate about serving their community during times of emergency.

You’ll have the opportunity to support local authorities, emergency services, SAR teams and other volunteer agencies. Whether it’s transporting essential personnel or delivering supplies, your efforts will make a real difference in people’s lives. 

Develop your leadership, management, public speaking, and more!

We understand that everyone has different availability. As a volunteer, you can contribute as much or as little time as you can afford. 

As a member, you’ll receive your PPE, ID cards, and stickers. These items signify your affiliation with our charity and enable you to carry out your duties with professionalism and confidence. 

Support Our Work

Volunteer Emergency Logisitics

A little about us

Wessex 4×4 Response is a Registered Charity comprising unpaid volunteers dedicated to providing emergency logistics for the Category 1 & 2 organisations, in support of our communities. We operate within the Avon & Somerset, Dorset and Wiltshire & Swindon Police forces’ areas. Our liaison team is active within the Local Resilience Forum in each force area and we can also support other regions under mutual aid.

 

Through the use of our volunteers’ own 4×4 vehicles, we can provide those logistics regardless of weather, ground conditions and location. We have included some examples below.

All of our Responders at Wessex 4×4 Response are unpaid volunteers, who are giving up their time to support their community. They are all subject to enhanced DBS checks at regular intervals, and will have gone through a variety of training courses based on their role. They will also bring a huge variety of experiences and skills from their day jobs and their previous experiences.

They will be driving their own vehicles, with a variety of vehicles in use ranging from the latest vehicles with only a few thousand miles on the clock to older vehicles that have driven the world.

Depending on the scale of the incident, we may deploy bronze or silver leaders to the incident, or embed liaison advisors into your operational cell to provide a live link between your need and our operations.

If the scale and type of incident is appropriate, we can also deploy our Incident Support Unit trailers to provide onsite command and control facilities, as well as responder welfare.

As all of our responders are unpaid volunteers, when the alarm goes, they will almost certainly be in the middle of their normal life. We are not a blue light service, so our responders will typically take a few minutes to change clothes, grab kit, make a flask of tea, and ensure the children have been handed off to someone else before they get moving.

Our record is 6 minutes from first contact with our control team, raising the job, getting availability, tasking responders to the first vehicle marking as en-route, but is more typically around 20-30 minutes.

  • SAR – This usually involves typically two vehicles, capable of carrying at least 4 search technicians, their kit and potentially a search dog as well. This maximises the use of qualified search technicians for search roles and allows for optimal positioning of the search rvp while minimising the wasted steps and time “commuting” to the start of a search area.
  • SAR – A vehicle can also support teams with ‘vehicle based’ searching, enabling the SAR team to clear a larger area quickly, freeing up resources for the more detailed search of targeted areas.
  • SAR – Vehicles can also be used as blocks to provide safety support to a search team who may need to search a verge at the side of a road.
  • Collecting staff for their shift during severe weather – Some organisations will ask us to transport huge numbers of staff to all arrive at the same time at their standard shift change. This is often unachievable, so you should consider staggering your shift change in this scenario to be able to get a more efficient use of resources.
  • Transporting staff on their shift during severe weather, such as district nurses, on-call doctors or police officers.
  • Evacuations
  • Bottled water delivery during outages
  • Transport of equipment for rest centres
  • Towing of decontamination trailers
  • Welfare checks during extended power outages
  • Provide transport to emergency planning officers to enable them to fully assess an evolving situation.

Latest news...

Flame of Hope nomination

Flame of Hope nomination

As a volunteer charity, we aim to support and help our local community. Part of this is providing vehicle support for our local Race for Life and other Cancer Research UK events.  We could not be more proud of our…

DorSAR Training Day

DorSAR Training Day

Wessex 4×4 Response Joins DorSAR Training Exercise Over the weekend, Wessex 4×4 Response collaborated with DorSAR (Dorset Search and Rescue) in a joint training day that saw five volunteers, each with their own vehicle, coming together for a day of…

Midsomer Norton Carnival

Midsomer Norton Carnival

What a fantastic evening at the Midsomer Norton Carnival last week!  On Monday from 4 pm to 11 pm, our dedicated team of 9 volunteers worked tirelessly to support road closures and ensure a safe and smooth flow of the…