For the second year running, the manufacturer has loaned a Transit minibus to the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team. The Ford Transit – a nine-seater Tourneo 280SWB model – was handed over to team director MajOE Ian Large at the Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead, by Transit brand manager David Petts.

The Ford Transit is to be used to carry team members and their vast range of disabled ski-ing equipment next month to the Stubai glacier in Austria for training. For the remainder of the winter the Transit will shuttle around the Alps carrying the squad to Inter-Service Championships.

'Reliable transport is of huge importance to us,' said Lt Col Mike Quaile, deputy chairman of the Combined Services Disabled Ski Team. 'Most team members are single or double amputees who have been injured on active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. The Transit will allow us to move them and all their bulky equipment around the Alps and is an absolute lifeline for the team… just invaluable, enabling us to move the whole team safely and comfortably.'