Salmon farmer's donation puts rescue team ambulance back on track

A mountain rescue team’s invaluable Land Rover is back in use thanks to a donation from salmon farmer Bakkafrost Scotland.

The Hebrides Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) covers a huge area of the Outer Hebrides from the island of Barra in the south to Lewis in the north.

However, the volunteers were left with just one vehicle at their disposal when they discovered their 27-year-old Land Rover Defender needed a new chassis.

The Stornoway-based team was also told the Defender - which is used as the team’s ambulance - would need to be sent to the Scottish mainland to be fixed and the cost would run into thousands of pounds.

Bakkafrost Scotland, which has marine salmon farms throughout the Hebrides, stepped in to help with a donation. And, with a new chassis now fitted, the vehicle is back in use and has already been involved in a search for a missing person and the rescue of stranded sheep.

Neil Barker, treasurer of the Hebrides MRT, said: “Without the financial support Bakkafrost Scotland has given us, we simply wouldn’t have had the funds available to fix our Land Rover, which would really hamper what we are able to do.

“We only have two vehicles we can use and the Land Rover is very important to us, as it has a relatively low mileage for a vehicle its age and, being a 4x4, it can handle different types of terrain.

“We use it as our ambulance vehicle as it can transport equipment like stretchers and other medical kit, as well as people, and it also means we don’t have to pay road tax.

Remote areas

“We have some serious hills in the Outer Hebrides that can be pretty boggy and rocky, and unfortunately people can find themselves in trouble in some very remote areas. So, getting to them as quickly as possible is absolutely key. The Land Rover helps us do that.

“It is also not just people we can go to the aid of. For example, if animals go off a cliff, we can step in to help rather than crofters putting themselves at risk by trying to carry out their own rescue.”

The Land Rover has also recently been taken to Lochaber, on the mainland, as part of a Scotland-wide winter weekend training exercise on Ben Nevis.

A privilege to help

Bakkafrost Scotland site development manager Penny Hawdon, who nominated the Hebrides MRT for the firm’s Community Funding support, said: “Supporting great community initiatives like the Hebrides Mountain Rescue Team is very important to us.

“They do an amazing job, often putting themselves at great risk to help others, and we at Bakkafrost Scotland feel privileged to have been able to help them by getting the Land Rover up and running again.”