NHS courier charity struggling with rising fuel costs

Fuel prices have exceeded £2 per litre in some parts of the UK

A charity that delivers medical supplies and specimens to the NHS is struggling to keep up with increasing fuel costs.

Freewheelers Emergency Voluntary Service is a free out-of-hours motorcycle courier service that works with hospitals in the South West.

The charity is considering what they can do to save money in the long run.

Volunteers have said that their fuel spending has "gone up 25%" recently amid the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Freewheelers has bikes in Bath, Bristol and Taunton and the team of volunteers travel around the region daily to support the NHS.

'Fast pace'

Currently, the volunteers are having to refuel the bikes every other day, due to the fact that they cover such a large distance.

Over weekends, they complete between 80 and 100 jobs.

To "minimise mileage" and "cost impact", the staff try to use bikes in close proximity to the jobs they are completing.

However, this is not always possible, given the uncertainty and fast pace of the work they do.

The charity does not cover set routes, so they are forced to fill up wherever possible, regardless of the cost of fuel.

Freewheelers is currently considering whether or not to switch to electric bikes.

However, one volunteer said: "It's all relative to what the bikes are doing and where they're going and how often you can top up" the charge.

"If you take the Wiltshire Air Ambulance that we deliver to every night, that's a 100-mile round trip," she added.

Emergency work can't warrant two-hour stops to recharge the bikes, as it "defeats the object" of helping people in need, the volunteer said.

Although Freewheelers has been "fortunate" to receive corporate sponsors in the past, the staff are now facing the "material cost of running the charity" as fuel costs continue to rise.