TRANSPORT charity Wivey Link was this week grappling with the twin challenges of soaring fuel prices and falling numbers of volunteer drivers.

With petrol prices at an average of around £1.90 per litre and diesel even more expensive at a decimal point below £2, the car share charity’s overheads have risen dramatically since February, when petrol averaged £1.48 and diesel £1.52.

At the same time, it has seen the number of volunteers driving its vehicles drop by around a third from pre-Covid levels.

To date, Wivey Link has managed to absorb the extra fuel costs without having to pass them on to its passengers.

Chairman Pauline Homeshaw told the Wellington Weekly/Free Press this week: “We have to cope because we have not got any option. We are very loathe to pass the costs on to our passengers.”

Wivey Link was formed to help combat rural isolation but today the service is open to anybody of any age without access to transport or who are chronically sick or disabled.

It operates from 8 am to 6 pm on weekdays for registered passengers who need to pre-book by 11 am the previous day on 01984 624666.

Mrs Homeshaw said: “We did raise our rates at the turn of the year for financial reasons, but that was before the price rises started to impact.

“You cannot keep passing on costs to vulnerable people who for the most part do not have any other option.

“People we transport are often living alone and isolated and they need us. Taxis are impossible for them to contemplate, even if people wanted to.”

Fares currently start at £4.56, varying according to the length of journey and for concessionary bus-pass holders.

Mrs Homeshaw said the types of journey for which Wivey Link was used had changed in recent times as people needed much more than to just attend medical appointments.

She said: “We just have to literally absorb the costs and hope that things stop being so extreme. It is like everybody, you have to cut your costs.

“We are not going to let this crisis damage us or disadvantage our passengers because we are here to help them, because they have nothing else.”

Mrs Homeshaw said just as much of a problem for the charity was finding enough volunteer drivers to meet the demand or journeys.

The charity had 44 drivers before the pandemic but today there were only about two-thirds of that number.

“It sounds a lot, but you have five cars every day all over the area,” said Mrs Homeshaw. “That is sticky at times, particular holiday times when drivers are away and you have holes you cannot fill.

“We are just plodding on. We cannot let our passengers down who have supported us for 20 years.”

Mrs Homeshaw said people were still being cautious post-Covid pandemic about what they did day to day.

She said: “I think a lot of people took the chance during Covid to re-think what they are doing in their lives.

“People have decided not to return who were with us, and trying to get new volunteers is as hard as trying to get staff.

“We are not unique in that. A lot of charities have the same problem.”

Mrs Homeshaw said Wivey Link drivers benefited personally from the experience because they met all sorts of people, many of whom had fascinating stories to tell them.