PITSTONE PARISH COUNCIL

9 Warwick Road, Pitstone, Beds, LU7 9FE
Tel: 01296 767261.  Email: parishclerk@pitstone.co.uk
Facebook: “Pitstone Parish Council” and “Pitstone Youth”
Twitter: @pitstone_pc    Web: www.pitstone.co.uk

Pitstone Community Car Scheme

PASSENGER INFORMATION

Dear Passenger
Thank you for registering with the Pitstone Community Car Scheme, which aims to assist residents from our parish with transport to their medical appointments.
Please remember that all our community car scheme drivers are volunteers and should be treated with courtesy and respect.  They are volunteering their free time and cars to help our community, and we are very grateful for the time they give to help other residents in our parish.  In fact, our volunteers undertake almost 300 journeys a year!
Our car scheme co-ordinator will let you know the cost of your journey in advance, this only covers your volunteer driver’s fuel costs and a small contribution towards wear and tear, they give their time for free.  There is a minimum fee of £1, even if your journey is within the village.  Please remember you must also pay the car park charges, so make sure you have a suitable amount of change for the machine, or a credit/debit card if your hospital car park accepts these.   
Our drivers are not allowed to accept a payment from you for their time, as this contravenes car sharing legislation.  However, if they are having to spend a lengthy time waiting at the hospital with you, it is acceptable for you to buy them a cup of tea/coffee etc and this will probably be very gratefully received. Should you, or a relative, wish to make a financial donation to the Community Car Scheme, please speak to the co-ordinator.
All bookings MUST be made through the co-ordinator.  This helps to ensure the safety of both our customers and our drivers and ensures that the scheme can be properly administrated.  Please do not contact any of our drivers direct, they will be unable to accept your booking and will ask you to telephone the co-ordinator.  
	The co-ordinator is:		Stephen Davies
	The telephone number is:	01296 767116 (Monday to Friday)
	The email is:			communitytransport@pitstone.co.uk
NB: As Stephen works part time, it is likely you will be diverted to an answering machine, do please leave as full a message as possible, it will be picked up at the next opportunity.

Please provide as much notice as possible, and at least 48 hours.  Our co-ordinator will contact the volunteer drivers with the details of calls received to see if anyone is available to fulfil your booking.  The co-ordinator will aim to confirm within 48 hours the driver that has volunteered to fulfil your booking and the car that they will be driving.  This enables you to recognise the driver when they arrive at your property and helps to ensure your safety.  It is not always possible for your bookings to be fulfilled by the same individual.  We will try our best to fulfil all booking requests however if no volunteers are available on this occasion, the co-ordinator will confirm this to you.   Please do not try to persuade the co-ordinator themselves to take the booking (Stephen does not drive for the scheme), or to try again.  All our drivers are volunteers and the scheme does receive a huge volume of requests, so we also need to respect the limitations of our volunteers and their prior commitments or bookings already accepted.  By ensuring all requests go through Stephen we will be able to track demand and recruit additional drivers to cope with rising demand.  If we are unable to help on this occasion, you may wish to explore passenger transport from the hospital you are visiting, you may qualify for a refund of public transport fees from the NHS, or you may be able to gain assistance from the Pitstone Town Lands Charity towards the cost of alternative travel.
When our driver arrives, they will be able to show you their identity card.
For your reassurance and safety, our car scheme undertakes Disclosure and Barring checks on all our drivers and requires all volunteers to be experienced, reliable drivers.  We check their driving licence is free of convictions, that they have suitable insurance and that their vehicle has a valid MOT certificate and road tax.  Drivers commit to ensuring that their vehicles are in road worthy condition, and they themselves are fit to drive (eg not unwell) before undertaking your booking. To comply with legislation, all passengers must wear seatbelts and smoking is not permitted in any of our vehicles.
Under this scheme, our drivers are not permitted to undertake extra tasks for customers (such as collecting prescriptions) or to carry heavy loads (please advise the co-ordinator if you need to take bulky/heavy equipment eg a wheelchair or luggage). Any such luggage must be placed in the boot of the vehicle.
Unfortunately, our drivers are not trained to physically assist clients. If you require assistance to walk to/from the car etc, it is your responsibility to have a friend/relative/carer accompany you on your journey.
Should you have free roaming pets at home, such as dogs, please ensure that they are suitably restrained before our driver arrives.
For the safety of our volunteer drivers, the Pitstone Community Car Scheme will not tolerate any abusive, aggressive or bullying behaviour, in whatever form, from customers/their relatives.  Should any such incidents occur, the scheme reserves the right to refuse any future bookings from that customer.
The Pitstone Community Car Scheme needs to obtain, store and use some personal information to enable your use of the scheme, such as your name, address, contact details, destination, special requirements/disabilities etc.  We will never disclose your personal information to anyone outside of the Car Scheme.  All personal information will be securely destroyed should you stop utilising the Car Scheme.  If you would like further information, please ask the co-ordinator for a copy of our Data Protection Policy and Confidentiality Policy.   By placing a booking with the Pitstone Community Car Scheme you are giving your consent to your personal information being used and stored in this manner.