Future of SOS Bus at risk if £5k not found

Newmarket's SOS Bus could be at risk if funds are not found to help with repairs and other issues

The future of a bus that helps vulnerable adults on nights out is at risk as it needs £5,000 for repairs and insurance.

The SOS Bus, that is regularly deployed on weekends in Newmarket in Suffolk, and other locations in Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, offers first aid and other support.

The charity has been running since 2009 and said it was experiencing a "surge in demand", but it had been unable to operate recently as it needed funds.

Chairman John Borda, said that while some money had come in, the service still "can't do it alone".

The service is deployed to High Streets on Saturday nights between 21:30 and 04:00.

It also attends locations such as Ipswich, Ely in Cambridgeshire and Thetford in Norfolk.

According to Mr Borda, £5,000 was needed to cover vehicle insurance as well as for fuel and things like first aid supplies, water and more.

"We're seeing record numbers of people needing help – and we're proud to be there for them," he explained.

"But we can't do it alone. Every donation, big or small, helps us save lives and keep our community safe."

The team was out in Newmarket on Saturday helping members of the public from a support tent

The service said since August this year volunteers had completed more than 483.25 hours with 459 interactions with the public so far.

This is compared to between August 2024 and July 2025 when they undertook 483 hours and had 350 interactions, and the same period in 2023/24 when they had 158 interactions.

The bus is equipped with a kitchen and seating area and also has a medical area for first aid.

Volunteers were out in Newmarket on Saturday - despite not having the bus with them - and they counted 52 interactions.