The car scheme started in 2004 and was rescued from closure and moved to the vestry at Christ Church in autumn of 2006. At that time, it was completing around 2,000 journeys a year but only 18 months later after it’s “rescue”, this had increased 150% to around 5,000 journeys a year and this number has continued. It has recently gained entry on to the Approved Operators List, which means the transport scheme is now recommended as a worthy operator by the Lincs CC.

The Christ Church Community Car Scheme is a non-profit making scheme governed by the PCC, which provides transport within the Stamford and Bourne area and has approximately 30 volunteer drivers who donate their time and vehicles to provide a vital service to approximately 450 disabled, elderly or vulnerable members within our community. These are people who cannot use, or who find it difficult to use public transport or have no other means of getting to appointments. All our drivers are CRB checked and these are renewed every 3 years.

We provide a reliable means of transport for members to doctor and hospital appointments and to perhaps the less essential but necessary, hairdresser trips and journeys to local supermarkets. There is no limit as to how many times our members can use the scheme in a week and we are very flexible on distance and are happy to take them wherever they need to go. However, priority is always given to doctors and hospital appointments if we are short of drivers.
We have very little outside financial help, so to assist towards our overhead costs we charge a membership fee of £12 per annum and each journey is calculated at around 55p – 58p per mile depending on distance. Our minimal charge around town i.e. Stamford and Bourne is £5.00 return and includes our driver either waiting for or returning to collect the passenger for up to 2 hours after dropping them off.