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Volunteer Driver Service thrilled with grant cash from County Council
24/10/2024
The money will primarily be used to attract more volunteer drivers
Banbury’s Volunteer Driver Service is one of nine organisations sharing in £106,530 of grant funding, to help them continue to provide vital community transport in Oxfordshire.
Oxfordshire County Council awarded the grants to fund drivers, operating costs, promotion and recruiting and training volunteers.
The Volunteer Driver Service was created in 2012 as a project of Banbury’s Citizens Advice service. Volunteer drivers use their own cars to take people to appointments, when there is no reasonable alternative transport available.
Keith Davies from the Volunteer Driver Service said: “We are thrilled to bits with our share of the £106,530 that Oxfordshire County Council are awarding.
“VDS will be using these funds primarily to attract more volunteer drivers to our award-winning service and therefore help more people across Oxfordshire.”
Oxfordshire County Council’s Community Transport grants support the voluntary sector as they play a key role filling gaps in service where public transport is not available. Across the county community transport schemes can include car clubs, community minibuses, dial-a-ride, lift shares, taxi shares and voluntary car schemes.
One of the Volunteer Driver Service’s drivers, Frank, explained how he felt volunteering: “Having retired from full time work I knew that the worst thing was that I would miss the day to day contact with the general public. My job used to be as a driver, driving a bus, so I used to have a lot of one-to-one contact.
“Since joining VDS I have found that I do still have that opportunity to connect on a one-to-one basis with people I transport to various destinations. I can usually gauge how people are going to interact when I first make contact on the phone to arrange a pickup time. So far, I’ve been about 95 percent right.
“People are wonderful and have a history to them that they are willing to talk about, and I am quite happy to listen as they are interesting, funny and knowledgeable. Such a rewarding service to render, and shouldn’t we all be helping each other.”
The County Council’s grants ranged from £2,730 to £21,000.
Councillor Andrew Gant is the council’s Cabinet Member for Transport Management. He said: “Oxfordshire’s community transport sector is a lifeline to many people. The grants will make a big difference to all nine organisations and help them to continue the fantastic work they are doing.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam