Clun Community Cars

Clun Community Cars Report to Annual Parish Meeting 2024

The Clun Community Car scheme was set up in March 2022 at the instigation of Joan Kerry and my wife Ross and I have run it since then. We currently have 8 volunteer drivers who are registered with Shropshire Council.

We take residents of the Clun Valley who are unable to drive, to medical appointments, opticians and dental appointments locally and further afield as far as Birmingham and Wolverhampton. We have also assisted elderly residents in visiting their spouses in hospital or in nursing homes.

Since we started we have undertaken 352 journeys helping 62 people in the Clun Valley. In the first 6 months the 8 volunteers travelled a total of 638 miles, increasing to 1500, 1700, 2300 and the last 6 month period we travelled over 3000 miles, making a total of 9327 miles. So the workload is steadily increasing year on year so we need more drivers.

We are soon to be starting a recruitment drive to see if we can get more drivers, but the registering with Shropshire Council and the necessary CRB checks seem to put people off.

We are grateful for the annual £50 grant recently granted by the Clun Town Council which will pay for the phone system which comes directly through to my wife’s mobile phone. This is constantly monitored and we have taken calls as early as 7am and as late as 11pm from residents.

Contact: Ross French 01588 614116