Rescuers help dig out the Army lorry. Photo: Kirkby Stephen MRT

A mountain rescue team was called in to provide military aid as winter continued to grip the Pennine hills.

Kirkby Stephen Mountain Rescue Team’s volunteers were asked by police to come to the aid of motorists, including three Army vehicles, stuck on a high route on the Cumbria-North Yorkshire boundary.

Team members went to the scene on Monday on Tailbridge Hill, which runs between Keld and Kirkby Stephen, to recover motorists trapped high on the minor road.

A team spokesperson said: “An Army lorry had skidded, blocking the narrow B6270 road at its highest point 500 metres (1,640ft) above sea level, as it began its descent into the Eden Valley.

“On arrival at the site the team discovered that a further Army lorry and Land Rover, together with five other cars and vans, were blocked in.”

Other motorists were stranded at the site south-west of Nine Standards Rigg. Photo: Kirkby Stephen MRT

Seventeen team members helped a snow plough and a JCB digger in digging out the vehicles. The spokesperson said all were successfully released and the occupants made their way down unharmed.

Members of Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team were called to check and clear the road from Keld to the incident.

The Kirkby Stephen MRT spokesperson added: “This short stretch of road is a well known point, high on the Pennines, at which the B6270 is prone to blockage by snow, even when almost all the rest of the road is clear.”