Community car scheme looking for volunteer drivers

Phil Pledger, who coordinates the scheme, is looking for more volunteer drivers

A community car scheme which takes people to medical appointments has said it cannot keep up with demand.

Albrighton Community Cars has been running for about 25 years in the Shropshire town, and currently has nine volunteer drivers, but could do with some more.

They use their own vehicles to take people who cannot get public transport to hospital appointments. Coordinator Phil Pledger said demand on the service was pretty much constant.

"The idea of the scheme is to assist people who find it difficult to attend, for example, hospital appointments, and find using public transport impossible, because of where they live," he said.

"The key here is that they are volunteers… we all have other things in life to do.

"Anybody who might be thinking of volunteering for this type of thing, we don't expect a nine-to-five Monday to Friday commitment."

The scheme itself is supported by Shropshire Council.

"There is a mileage allowance, part of that is paid by the client, the rest is paid by the council," Mr Pledger said.

"People who drive for us have to notify their insurers that they are carrying out this function, but in our experience, this has never proved a problem."

He added that the service was not a replacement to public transport and was not a taxi service.

"It is meant as a supplement or a complement to public transport," he said.