A mountain rescue team member battles the Beast from the East. Photo: Matt Nightingale

A Cumbrian mountain rescue team was called out to aid a stranded lorry driver, and ended up help freeing a snowplough caught in drifts.

Penrith Mountain Rescue Team responded to more than 20 incidents over the past few days, including digging out the lorry near Alston.

Volunteers from the team received several requests for help, ranging from patients needing urgent care, medication or evacuation to passengers stranded on a train. Penrith MRT was also involved in a desperate eight-hour effort to reach a French lorry driver who had been stranded in an exposed location for 48 hours.

The Penrith team was in action across its patch, including the Garrigill, Brampton, Alston, Haltwhistle and Bampton areas as severe weather hit the central and eastern parts of Cumbria.

Mountain rescuers work to free the stranded snow plough. Photo: Matt Nightingale

Teams across the area, belonging to the umbrella organisation the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association, responded to numerous calls for help from the emergency services as the Beast from the East swept across the area, with blizzards and high winds.

A Penrith MRT spokesperson said: “We would like to thank Patterdale, Cockermouth and Wasdale MRTs for their assistance.”