VASA pushes for government help for volunteer drivers

Added on Wed 9th Jun 2010 by Trevor (Marketing and Communications Manager)

VASA is pressing the new coalition government to act urgently and increase the expenses for volunteer drivers who take elderly and disabled people to hospital and doctors’ surgeries.

It warned this week that unless the current allowance of 40p a mile, frozen since 2002, is raised, many drivers will be forced to give up – with “disastrous consequences for those who’ve no other way of getting to their medical appointments”.

VASA has already met Nadhim Zahawi, MP for Stratford on Avon, to discuss its concerns – and Clarissa Roberts, its’ Volunteer Services manager, said: “He understood our worries, was keen to help and I’m sure he’ll raise the matter with Ministers”.

She said: “We pressed the previous government but without success. The situation has worsened since – and volunteers have reached breaking point.

“With petrol prices so high many drivers simply can’t afford to continue, for all their enormous goodwill. The 40p allowance was set when petrol was a little over half what it is today and it is simply inadequate. At the same time of course, other motorising costs have risen steeply.”

Last year, the VASA scheme provided 30,689 passenger journeys covering 498,607 miles involving 60,000 volunteer driver hours.

“We realise that the government is looking to reduce rather than increase spending”, said Mrs Roberts. “But in their election manifestos, both parties in the coalition said they wanted a bigger role for the voluntary sector and volunteers.

“Volunteers should not be out of pocket. It’s expecting too much of people who are giving up huge amounts of their time to provide an absolutely essential service. – especially when many of them are on fixed incomes.

“This is a very large rural district. Getting around is very difficult for people without their own transport. Getting to hospitals in Oxford or Coventry would be impossible for many without the volunteer drivers. If drivers give up, the consequences will be disastrous.

“The alternative could be for the NHS to pick up the bill by paying for taxis which the AA estimates could cost four times as much. So it makes economic sense for the government to act”.