Callout on First Day for new Land Rover Discovery D5
On the first day that Avon & Somerset Search and Rescue had the new Land Rover Discovery D5 it attended a callout. The police were concerned for the welfare of an elderly lady with dementia in the Long Ashton area. Fortunately the lady was located safe and well in nearby Hotwells, Bristol (Saturday 3rd November).
The new Discovery D5 is on loan from Jaguar Land Rover to Mountain Rescue England & Wales. It’s touring the country spending two weeks with each team to test its capabilities.
The team had another callout the next day to help search for a vulnerable missing male near Dundry, he was also found on the edge of Bristol and is now receiving the care he needs.
Avon & Somerset Search and Rescue have had one of their busiest years attending 35 callouts so far and our members have given over 1800hrs of time to these incidents, let alone all the training and fundraising required. The callouts mainly involve searching for vulnerable missing people who may be suicidal or suffering from mental illness, but also involve cliff rescues.
Jim Hardcastle, a member of Avon & Somerset Search and Rescue said, ‘We had only just received the new Discovery D5 when the request for help from the police came. And then another callout the next day. Luckily in both incidents the missing person was located alive, but this is often not the case. As a team we’ve been involved in some very tragic and difficult incidents. As members we have to respond from wherever we are at that time and then may need to access some very difficult locations, so it’s a real test for the Discovery D5, both on and off-road, when it spends time with a search and rescue team.’
The new Discovery D5 pictured with ASSARs Defender on Cheddar Cliff’s.
