"One job was nearly a bridge too far"

"As the AA's Special Operations Response Team (SORT) we are deployed when members find themselves in very tricky, sometimes dangerous situations – such as floods or severe snow and icy conditions. One such incident happened to two of our team, Steve Dickinson and Stephen Liles.

"One summer they were called out to Sherwood Forest where member Mark Hartley had gone down an unmade road and got stuck in wet sand. A very heavy thunderstorm hit the area, and when they got to the scene they found a fast flowing river where a dirt track had been – with Mr Hartley’s car stuck in the middle of it.

"Luckily Mr Hartley was no longer in the car – he was sheltering in a nearby house. The two ‘Steves’ decided that best course of action was to take Mr Hartley back to the holiday village where he was staying and return to the stranded car later.

"As they had predicted, when they got back to the scene the water had receded. But now the car was sunk in mud up to its underneath. There was nothing else to do but dig it out.

"Then they saw another problem – parts of the road had been washed away leaving big gaps in it. AA SORT's motto is "Adapt and Overcome", so they guys wasted no time in constructing a bridge from fallen logs and rocks. They were just manoeuvring the car over the bridge, when two cyclists on mountain bikes appeared and told them that the nearby lake had burst its banks and a torrent of water was rushing in their direction.

"They managed to get the car onto a bank where they sat for an hour watching the water wash away their hard work. Not to be defeated, the two 'Steves' rebuilt the bridge once the water had gone, and they got the car back to Mr Hartley with no more damage than a missing towing-eye cover, some water in the footwells and mud as a paint job."

Darron Burness, Manager, AA Special Operations Response Team (SORT)