Voluntary Social Car Scheme is intended for those people who have no other means of transport.
We have volunteers who provide a door to door service across the county to collect you from your home and take you to your chosen destination for a reasonable cost.
The service can be used for a wide variety of purposes including:
- making connections with public transport
- doing the weekly shop
- medical appointments
- just for visiting friends
Journeys are available depending on volunteers availability. You may be asked to share transport and you may need to be flexible about the times you travel.
What the voluntary car scheme doesn't cover
Concessionary travel
As Voluntary Social Car Schemes and Rural Wheels are not scheduled bus services, you won't be able to use your concessionary NoWcards for travel on these services.
Other council transport services
These schemes are designed to complement, not duplicate, existing council transport services. Therefore, they cannot be used for travel to day care, school, nursery, or college.
Transport to hospital appointment
If you need transport to get you to your hospital appointment, check your eligibility for NHS Patient Transport by contacting the North West Ambulance Service.
Telephone: 0800 032 3240
Voluntary Car Scheme locations
These include:
- Kirkbride, Silloth and Bowness on Solway
- Raughton Head
- Aspatria, Bothel
- Brampton, Longtown
- Roadhead, Walton
- Caldbeck and District, Dalston
- Ireby
- Maryport and Allonby
- Cockermouth and District
- Workington
- Keswick, Portinscale Braithwaite, Newlands, Thornthwaite
- Whitehaven, Arlecdon, Frizington, Cleator Moor, Egremont, St Bees
- Drigg, Carleton, Ireton, Seascale, Gosforth, Bootle, Eskdale
- Millom and District
- Warwick Bridge and surrounding areas
How to book your nearest Voluntary Car Scheme
Contact us to find out your eligibility and the contact details for your nearest Voluntary Car Scheme:
Telephone: 0333 240 69 65 (option 5)
Email: [email protected]
When booking transport with your local coordinator, please give as much notice as possible to allow time to find an available volunteer driver.
If you require assistance accessing a vehicle you would need to supply your own escort.
If there is no car scheme in your area
If there's no car scheme in your area or no availability for your journey, we may be able to offer Rural Wheels.
Register for the Rural Wheels scheme
Volunteer as a driver or coordinator
We would like to hear from anyone who wants to become a volunteer driver or help run a Voluntary Social Car Scheme as a coordinator. Expenses are reimbursed.
Volunteer drivers use their own vehicle to provide transport for people in their community. We reimburse fuel costs at 45 pence per mile when travelling without a passenger and 50 pence per mile when carrying passengers.
Drivers collect the cash fare and offer a receipt to the passenger, although passengers do not have to accept one. We also provide insurance to cover any loss of no-claims bonus and excess payments.
To get involved, complete our volunteer driver and coordinator expression of interest form.
Contact us
If you have any questions, contact us:
Voluntary Transport Officer
Telephone: 0333 240 69 65 (option 1 then 5)
Mobile: 07788 396194
Email: [email protected]