VOLUNTEERS at a Borders-based mountain rescue unit responded to three "overlapping" incidents on a busy Saturday.

It is believed to be the first time in the history of the Tweed Valley Mountain Rescue Team that it has had three callouts in one day.

The first was a request from the Scottish Ambulance Service to help evacuate an injured bike rider at Glentress.

A team spokesperson said: "Initial reports suggested serious injuries so it was good to hear, as we were deploying, that the air ambulance had managed to land near the casualty and they had been successfully loaded into the aircraft.

"Our second callout was to provide support to Moffat MRT were responding to a casualty with a serious leg injury near the summit of Tinto Hill. The top of Tinto was in cloud so additional resource from our team was requested to assist with what could have been a prolonged stretcher carry.

"Luckily HMCG Rescue Helicopter R199 was able to find a gap in the cloud and land by causality and lift them to the waiting ambulance as MRT were deploying onto the hill.

"Our third callout came as we were standing down from the Tinto job. Police had received reports of unconscious female in difficult to access woodland in the Midlothian area. We deployed from Tinto and 25 minutes into the journey it was confirmed the incident had resolved and MRT were no longer required.

"We wish all of Saturdays casualties a speedy recovery."

It was a landmark moment for the team's new vehicle, Tweed Charlie, which was used for the first time.

‘Charlie’ supplements the existing fleet of three vehicles – two Land Rover ambulances and a Mercedes Sprinter incident control vehicle.