KENT Police are praising the farming community in South Kent for all its help dealing with the severe weather conditions last Thursday.

The control room took almost 400 weather-related calls in the South Kent area (250 in Folkestone and Dover and 148 in Ashford) as high winds and fallen trees caused widespread travel disruption.

Many local farmers used their own vehicles and equipment to clear trees and debris from roads, while others used their vehicles to block roads where hazards were present, to prevent accidents.

Many people took the advice from Kent Police to avoid unnecessary journeys and luckily there were no major incidents.

Sgt Neil Minter said: “The rural community were fantastic and showed a great spirit of co-operation. By all of us working together we managed to get things clear as quickly as possible and keep disruption to a minimum."