Volunteers clock up almost 25,000 miles to support people in Hampshire during the coronavirus outbreak

Members of Hampshire and Berkshire 4x4 Response have been delivering pallets of food and personal protective equipment as well as collecting swab tests and delivering prescriptions for a range of different people, organisations and businesses, including doctors, health centres, dentists, South Central Ambulance Service, hospitals, undertakers and hospices.

The group, which is run entirely by volunteers who offer their time and their 4x4 vehicles during times of severe weather and other emergencies, activated the logistics team at the end of March and their first task was to deliver 19 pallets of food out to the boroughs within Hampshire.

Charity member Mike Sutton, said: ‘We have had some lovely feedback from some of the care homes that they have delivered to and in a few cases have been met with tears of relief as they have delivered the much-needed PPE.’

The charity, which was founded in 2007, is a member of the Local Resilience Forum - a partnership which works together to help people in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight stay safe by preparing them for emergencies to reduce risk in the community.

In total, the Forum has seen 1026 deliveries and collections of PPE and food to people and organisations in need during the pandemic - meeting 100 per cent of the requests for assistance.

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