Elderly fear being left housebound

AROUND 200 elderly people a week rely on the minibus service provided by Age UK Dacorum to take them to hospital appointments, social clubs, or the shops.

They pay £4 to get picked up in the morning and taken home in the afternoon. The Hertfordshire-based charity has five paid drivers, with five or six volunteers acting as escorts and driving if needed. They have to pass a free Hertfordshire County Council minibus driving test. Age UK Dacorum says the proposed commercial licences will cost an average £1,700 per driver, or around £10,000 per annum for the paid drivers alone. Chief executive David Pearce said the plan would result ‘in people becoming housebound, isolated and lonely...’