Killin and District Volunteer Car Scheme has recently been awarded £8,650 from the National Lottery Awards for All Scotland fund. The scheme was established in 2018, and offers a door-to-door voluntary car service for people who struggle with accessing public transport in the Killin Medical Practice area and Strathyre. All drivers are volunteers, they transport local residents to and from hospital appointments, health centres, clubs, day centres and activities, and have become a key service in the local community. Stirling MSP Evelyn Tweed lodged a parliamentary motion celebrating their funding success and work and presented a framed copy of the motion with volunteers and organisers.
After the visit, Evelyn Tweed MSP said:
‘The Killin and District Volunteer Car Share Scheme is an absolute asset to the community and an excellent example of communities being well placed to identify and meet local needs. It was great to meet with them to present the motion, and to hear about their plans for the future as well as the challenges they are facing. I encourage anyone in the local area who has spare time to consider volunteering for this excellent scheme. I will continue to do what I can to support the scheme and the wider transport needs of the community.
Commenting, Don Fraser from the Killin and District Volunteer Car Share Scheme said:
“It was an excellent meeting with Evelyn. The Trustees enjoyed talking about the scheme, some of the issues and the positives of volunteering. It was good that Evelyn was open to what we had to say and she is helping me with the issues I raised.
“Existing public transport (Buses) have not improved in real terms with the DRT (Demand Response Transport) and Passenger Ambulance Service worsening. Our car scheme offers a bespoke door to door service that people need for essential journeys that cannot be met in a reasonable manner by the public transport services, meeting the personal needs of people who are often travelling at stressful times to attend Hospitals for clinics and procedures. To me, voluntary car schemes should achieve equity with public transport services so that passengers with bus passes or entitlement passes can use them with us”.
