Community Car Scheme

Door to Door Transport - Social Car Scheme

Oadby & Wigston Community Action run a local social car scheme which provides transport for residents of Oadby and Wigston who have difficulty accessing public transport.

People register with our scheme and we take them on all kinds of trips including doctors, dentists, chiropodists, luncheon clubs, hairdressers, shopping, and to visit their friends. Many of our clients would have difficulty getting out of the house without us, so our drivers provide a real lifeline for them.

All our drivers are volunteers and there are between 20 and 30 on our books. Some drive as much as five days per week, others just half a day per week, and some help out in emergencies. Each one is equally valuable and important to us, regardless of the amount of time they are able to give.

We also have a 7 seater minibus and have two drivers, Phil Heggs and Paul Sharman, to carry out this service. The bus does regular trips to local supermarkets and is already proving popular with our clients thanks to the friendly and efficient way the drivers operate. Their flexible and helpful approach is proving invaluable to us. In the new year we are hoping to purchase a special wheelchair accessible vehicle to further improve the range of services we provide.

In the office Emma Lyon and Maggie Noble provide a friendly voice and efficient manner when clients ring in to book their journeys.

The scheme remains immensely popular with currently over 220 clients, plus a waiting list of around 40. We are continually taking people from the waiting list and adding them to the scheme, but as soon as we do, more people want to join. The number of clients we can provide a service for depends entirely on the number of volunteer drivers we have, so we are always on the look out to recruit more. We regularly hold recruitment events at places such as local supermarkets.

We have obtained funding for a new wheelchair accessible vehicle which will be delivered in December 2010. The car will be used for wheelchair users aswell as the rest of our clients. As a result of this we hope to clear our waiting list by the new year.

Every week up to 300 journeys are undertaken, that’s around 15,000 per year covering 75,000 miles. The majority are to and from destinations within Oadby and Wigston, but many are to other areas of Leicester.

We are continually indebted to our team of volunteer drivers, whose constant help and support enhances the quality of life of hundreds of people in Oadby and Wigston.

Dave Williams
Social Car Scheme Co-Ordinator

For further enquires please speak to either Dave Williams – Social Car Scheme Co-ordinator or Emma Lyon telephone (0116) 2880508 (out of hours answerphone) or by email.

Email: car.scheme@owcommunityaction.org.uk

Office opening times 9.30am – 3.00pm Monday to Thursday and 9.30am - 1.00pm Friday

Interested in Volunteering?

Please visit the Community Car Scheme Volunteer Page