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Devon and Cornwall 4x4 Response Group have clocked up more than 10,000 miles while helping the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.(Image: DC4x4R)

Milestone for 4x4 drivers helping Devon's COVID-19 response

The group, DC4x4R have helped with nearly 200 deliveries of PPE, medicines, care boxes and various other tasks

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Devon and Cornwall 4x4 Response Group have clocked up more than 10,000 miles while helping the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group, DC4x4R have helped with nearly 200 deliveries of PPE, medicines, care boxes and various other tasks during the present Coronavirus crisis. This has been the largest and longest deployment the group has ever undertaken and is still ongoing.

The group which has approaching 90 members across Devon and Cornwall has been working with the local resilience forums and Devon and Cornwall Police to provide logistical support to front line NHS sites and carers of vulnerable adults and children across the two counties.

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The screenshot from the Longbow system shows the current location of members who are “On call” or will be available over the next 7 to 10 days, this example shows that at that particular time over 60% of members were available to help.(Image: DC4x4R)

None of this would have been possible without the dedication of the group’s control team of ten controllers who have used their local knowledge and skill to ensure that the tasks issued to the groups responders are managed and supported in the most efficient way. The control team have been working from 7:30am until 7:00pm, seven days a week since the crisis started.

The control manager and liaison officer have provided additional out of hours cover to ensure that no requests for assistance has been missed.

The training team have also been busy providing over 280 hours of online video training sessions to members and new recruits so that they are fully conversant with the group’s “Longbow” call out app, its “Zello Works” communication system and on how to assist the emergency services with traffic management and temporary road closures.