Shropshire farmers look to send pick-ups to Ukraine front-line

Farmers from Shropshire are fundraising to send pick-up trucks with supplies to front-line soldiers in Ukraine.

David Evans, who farms near Pontesbury, travelled along with a convoy of 38 vehicles in May and said: "The impact on us all was off the Richter scale, the sense of gratitude is overwhelming."

He said an initiative called Pick-ups for Peace had sent five convoys and 150 vehicles to date.

Another convoy will go in September.

The Pick-ups for Peace programme was developed by Angus farmer Mark Laird along with Keith Dawson, from Peebles, and Vince Gillingham, from Wiltshire.

Mr Evans said the donations received in Shropshire would be used to purchase unwanted pick-ups from farms and make them roadworthy.

Mr Evans said the vehicles would carry items requested by Ukrainian soldiers and, after his visit in May with 60 volunteers, he plans to go again in September.

The donated vehicles can each be worth between £5,000 and £10,000 but have to meet MoT test standards before making the journey.

Each will be sprayed with a matt paintwork in Nato green before being loaded up with supplies including generators, food and clothing.

Convoys then travel 1,400 miles through the Netherlands, Germany and Poland before crossing the Ukraine border.

They have been used to transport dead and injured soldiers from the front-line across rough ground to waiting ambulances.

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