A team of rescue volunteers have been kept busy recently, having been called out to assist people stranded in their vehicles along a treacherous stretch of road that has proved too much for some drivers in the recent wintry weather.

The Carrick Resilience Team braved whiteout conditions on a road through the Galloway Forest, 400 metres above sea level, which had been hit by a blizzard, leaving two lorries stranded on Wednesday, February 3 and another two vehicles on the following day.

One man was stuck for eight hours waiting to be rescued.

Ayr Advertiser: The two lorries were stranded on the Wednesday.

On the Wednesday, they received the call from Police around 3.30pm and they gathered all the manpower they could to get to the stranded vehicles on the road between Straiton and Glentrool. Both lorries had been stranded in excess of three hours.

The conditions were dangerous due to the adverse weather, with all that could be seen of the landscape endless white. Their own vehicles, though, were well equipped with snow-beating equipment such as speciality tyres and armed with winches.

They managed to get the blue lorry moving, by towing it, which in turn, was employed to pull out the ditched lorry. A smaller van and car were also assisted on the same day.On the Thursday they again answered a request from the police about a vehicle that had been stranded for four hours already.

By this point the landscape had become even more unnavigable due to more snowfall in the preceding 24 hours.

It took the team four hours to travel a journey that would usually take 30 minutes, so bad were the roads. Their passage was not helped by a small van blocking the road at Stinchar Bridge, which needed clearing. Two of their vehicles had to turn back, unable to make progress along the road.

These two vehicles then found another lorry stranded at the Stinchar Bridge on their way back down, which they succesfully helped to turn around.

Ayr Advertiser: The road has proved treacherous in recent times.

When the team eventually reached the vehicle that had been stranded for the whole day, a white van, they freed it by towing it, two members that pulled the stranded white van out then escorted that driver back to Maybole, Via Glentrool, Barrhill (A714), Girvan.

However, yet another vehicle was ditched a little further down the road, this vehicle was irretrievable and the driver had to be escorted off of the road by a friend, abandoning his vehicle.

Ayr Advertiser: The team were called out again the following day.

Sergeant Legge from Carrick Locality Policing Team praised the team for their efforts, saying: “Carrick Resilience are a valuable voluntary resource that regularly assist in a multitude of ways amongst the communities of Carrick, South Ayrshire.

“The recent incidents where they have been able to assist vehicles stuck in the snow shows only a small proportion of the valuable work they do in our community.

“Motorists are politely reminded to plan their journeys, taking into account the route, possible weather conditions whilst ensuring they always have extra fuel and a method of communication in the event they become stuck, or break down.”