A DISABILITIES group has enlisted the help of the Army to ship two adapted buses to their counterparts in Russia.

People who attend County Durham Care's Spennymoor Day Centre have raised £4,000 to cover the cost of renovating and transporting two former county council buses to a group of disabled people they have befriended in Kostroma, called the White Dolphin Group.

Durham County Council donated a 28-seat bus, and the Kaleidoscope Group raised cash to buy a selection of spare parts, which may be difficult to acquire in Kostroma.

Group member Carol Burnside said: "We have been in close contact with the White Dolphin Group for more than a year now. We found out about the differences in care between our two countries, particularly the lack of specialist transport for people with a disability in Kostroma, which means they are very isolated.

The group managed to negotiate mountains of red tape to arrange for the buses to be transported to Kostroma, but encountered problems trying to obtain insurance to have the buses driven to Hull.

The 102 Reme Battalion stepped in and volunteered to transport the buses on low loaders from their base at Newton Aycliffe.

Three representatives from the Spennymoor Day Centre, care worker Yvonne Anderson, driver John Hind and client Carol Burnside will fly to Kostroma on August 2.