A RENEWED appeal has been made for volunteer drivers to keep a vital community transport service in Tenbury on the road.

But the news that Tesco is going ahead with building a new supermarket in the town has provided a ray of hope.

John Driver, who heads the Tenbury Transport Trust, said earlier this year that he had given up on a vital cash injection of £100,000 promised as part of the deal to bring Tesco to the town.

But now that the supermarket chain has started work on the demolition of buildings on the old Cattle Market Site signs are that the supermarket will be built and open by the end of 2017.

This means that the transport trust can expect to get the money that it badly needs.

However, this will be useless unless the trust can find the volunteer drivers that it needs to run its mix of car and bus services.

At present the Tenbury Transport Trust has two 15-seat mini-buses that it uses to run services to a number of destinations including Kidderminster and Leominster.

It has been promised a new mini-bus under a Government Community Transport Scheme for more than a year but there is still no indication of when this will arrive.

One of the buses is more than 10 years old and needs to be replaced but this can only happen when the bus promised from the government arrives.

This bus will be owned by the trust while its present fleet is leased from Worcestershire County Council.

When the new bus arrives it is hoped that an additional services can be added, linking Tenbury with Ludlow via smaller villages such as Crete.

The Tenbury Transport Trust does not only run bus services but also has a fleet of cars that are driven by volunteers.

These are used for vital visits to places such as doctor’s surgeries and hospitals.

But it is entirely dependent upon volunteer drivers as is the bus service.

Without the drivers neither buses nor cars can run.

Wendy Schuster, manager at the Tenbury Transport Trust, said that getting more volunteer drivers is critical.

“We have a list of about 30 drivers but only six or eight are active at any one time,” she said.

“With 600 registered users we need drivers to be able to meet the needs of our customers.”

She said that, while there is no need for a public service vehicle licence, volunteers who drive the mini-buses do have to undergo an assessment of up to an hour but she added that no-one had failed.

Car drivers use their own vehicles and are paid a mileage allowance. John Driver says that there is normally not additional insurance to be paid.

There are restrictions intended to make sure that the Transport Trust is not effectively in competition with commercial bus and taxi services.

Restrictions will also apply to how the bus promised by the government will be able to be used. For example, the Tenbury Transport Trust is not allowed to contract directly with Care Homes.

People have to register to use the bus and car services and make an advanced booking as the transport trust is not allowed to pick up passengers from traditional bus stops.

There are now 600 people registered to use the service.

All enquiries to book services and volunteer as a driver should be made to Tenbury Transport Trust, Teme Street, Tenbury, during the week between 9am and 1pm.

People can also telephone 01584 810491, 01584 819452 or email: admin@tttrust.org.uk web: www.tttrust.org.uk