Volunteers, vehicles, and a stubborn refusal to be stopped by weather.

Nottinghamshire 4x4 Response is a charitable group of unpaid volunteers, drivers, controllers and support staff, who give their time to help the emergency and essential services across the county. We're not part of the blue-light services and we don't take calls from the public. Our taskings come from category 1 and 2 responders such as the police, ambulance service, NHS trusts, doctors' surgeries and Nottinghamshire County Council's emergency planning team. If you have an emergency, always dial 999, or 101 for non-urgent matters — and they'll call us in if we're needed.

Our purpose is simple: when snow, floods, ice or rough terrain stop conventional vehicles getting through, we keep things moving. That might mean getting a district nurse to a housebound patient, delivering hot meals to vulnerable elderly residents, moving key NHS staff between sites during severe weather, or helping a partner agency reach somewhere remote. We work in conditions most drivers would (rightly) avoid, with vehicles, training and equipment built for exactly that.

We're a local group within 4x4 Response UK, a network of around thirty independent volunteer teams covering most of Great Britain and the Isle of Man. Within that network we're known by the group identifier "NM" and cover the county of Nottinghamshire. Each group runs its own operations, but in a major incident we can call on neighbouring teams, and they can call on us, so the response scales when it needs to.

Being useful in bad conditions takes more than a capable vehicle. Our drivers train regularly, both on their own and through joint exercises with partner agencies, and most have completed BORDA-recognised off-road driver training. We carry public liability insurance, equip our vehicles for cold and prolonged call-outs, and operate a 24/7 dispatch system staffed by our controllers. We're on call every day of the year, in every kind of weather.

The visible end of what we do is a 4x4 with a responder behind the wheel, but the team is broader than that. Controllers run dispatch and keep in touch with responders during call-outs to make sure they're safe and well. Other volunteers handle training coordination, fundraising, communications, equipment and the day-to-day administration of the charity. You don't need to own a 4x4 to be part of Nottinghamshire 4x4 Response.

We receive no government funding. Every vehicle, every litre of fuel on a call-out, and most of our equipment is paid for by the volunteers themselves, topped up by donations, sponsorship and community fundraising. That model lets us stay lean and locally focused, but it also means we rely on the public, local businesses and grant-makers to keep us on the road.

Bad weather and emergencies are only part of what we do. Throughout the year you'll find us out in the community, supporting local fun runs, marathons, charity events and country shows, providing logistics, marshalling, communications and the odd vehicle recovery. These events keep our team sharp and let us give back to the county we serve.