Guidance for drivers
CARE in Weybridge
Guidance for volunteer drivers
March 2026
Welcome
A warm welcome to the CARE in Weybridge team. We hope you will enjoy the experience of working with us and find the work thoroughly rewarding.
About CARE in Weybridge
We are a registered charity, originally founded in 1987 by a group of St James’ church parishioners. We have since grown steadily and now have over 250 clients, about 60 drivers and over 20 Duty Officers. We are one of the larger Care schemes in Surrey.
Our purpose is to transport clients who are unable to drive themselves to essential appointments, mostly medical, but also including hairdressing, shopping etc.
Many but not all of our clients are elderly. Some have mobility and other physical or mental issues. Most are absolutely delightful and are generally fascinating to talk to.
We only work for clients who live in the KT13 (Weybridge) postcode. There are other Care organisations in the vicinity and some 70 plus around Surrey.
Expectations
The big difference about volunteering with CARE compared to many other charities is FLEXIBILITY. You can do as much or as little as you can or wish to do. You should never feel under any pressure to do a job, although you may sometimes feel sympathy for a Duty Officer (DO) desperate to find a driver for tomorrow morning!
So how does it work?
We have a dedicated phone number (07881 698381) and a CARE mobile phone which is passed from DO to DO each day. There is one Duty Officer each weekday, taking calls from 9am to 12pm. Our clients call in, generally a few days ahead of their appointment, give the details to the DO and the DO then looks for available drivers.
Once they have found a driver, they call the client back to confirm who will be driving them and what time they will pick them up.
Our DOs use a computer system called Via, which has been specially developed by a community interest company for organisations like ours.
How do you get a job?
Most DOs take a number of calls during the morning, book them on Via and then post them on a WhatsApp poll on the CARE JOBS WhatsApp group – just the basic details:
job number, date and time, destination, duration and any special needs (eg wheelchair etc).
You should check your WhatsApp regularly during the morning and around lunchtime.
If you decide you can do one or more of the jobs advertised, just vote for them by pressing the button to the left of the job. The DO will be able to see your name and will contact you to confirm that you have got the job and then send you more details.
Feel free to vote for more than one job if you are able to do more. The DO will do their best to share the work out equitably amongst the voting drivers.
Occasionally, if there is a low response to the WhatsApp, DOs will call around drivers to see if they can summon more interest!
Once the DO has assigned the job to you, our Via computer system will email the full details to you, with a diary invitation. The email will come from:
Note: it might go to your junk – worth checking.
Please accept the invitation, which will then trigger a confirmation of receipt to the DO.
At the end of the morning, the DO will post a final list of jobs and drivers on CARE JOBS. Please check the message and add a thumbs up to confirm that you are doing that job and have the details. Just double tap on the message and select thumbs up.
Before the job
For those of you who use an electronic diary, we suggest you set a reminder alert for the job (drivers have been known to forget!).
We also recommend that you call the client the day before to introduce yourself and confirm that you will be picking them up at the agreed time. Many of our more elderly clients find the whole process of medical appointments quite stressful and this simple act can reduce the stress levels considerably.
Dealing with clients
Some clients with limited mobility will need a lot of help and support. Some are fit enough to do everything themselves. Some like to be taken into their appointment. Some are totally independent. You will probably be able to assess this when you meet them, but don’t be afraid to ask about their preferences.
Most of our jobs involve taking the client to their appointment, waiting for them and taking them home.
Some jobs are just one-way eg when taking someone who is having an operation. In those cases, the client will usually call to say when they are ready to go home.
Some involve dropping off in the morning and collecting later in the day. In these cases, we often ask two drivers to help, one to take and one to return, but sometimes one driver is willing to do both.
Client donations
Our service is free, but we ask our clients to make a modest voluntary donation to cover our costs. The amount is entirely down to them, but if they ask how much is reasonable, we have a list of suggested donations for different destinations.
Service standards
Whilst we are a charity, we do pride ourselves on the excellence of our service and the client experience. There is a short section on our website called Service Standards that you may wish to read. You will need to login as a volunteer first:
Scroll to Volunteer Login at the bottom of the home page.
User Name: CARE Volunteer
Password: Weybridge3
Go to Resources/Service Standards.
You will also find other useful things under Driver Information, such as hospital parking, ULEZ etc.
Expenses
You are entitled to claim mileage and any other expenses incurred (eg parking, phone calls etc). Just fill in the expenses form and send to our treasurer Frank Lawson, whose address is on the form.
You may find it easiest to keep the cash you receive and make a bank transfer to CARE.
It’s probably a good idea to keep a small notebook where you can record your journeys, mileage, donation amounts and any useful notes about the clients.
Compliance
This is probably a statement of the obvious, but please be aware that you are responsible for ensuring that you have a valid driving licence, road tax, insurance that covers volunteering and a valid MOT.
You are also required to have a valid and up to date DBS clearance.
On car insurance, it is usually enough to have written confirmation from your insurance company that they are happy for you to voluntarily drive third parties in your own vehicle to essential appointments. Some companies are reluctant to give written confirmation. In those cases, either check their website for statements about volunteering or call them for permission and record the time and date of the call, as most record their calls.
Communications
Most of our communications are now through WhatsApp. There are four WhatsApp groups:
CARE JOBS – for jobs and only jobs!!
CARE ALERTS – for any important information that other drivers/DOs would find useful eg parking restrictions, traffic delays etc
CARE DUTY OFFICERS – only for DOs to share information that would help their fellow DOs
CARE COMMITTEE – only for committee members to share all that boring stuff that committees do!
The general rule on WhatsApp is to communicate only when necessary and to keep it brief!
Who’s who
You can find a list of committee members and a full list of volunteers on the website under Resources.
Help
If you need help at any time, call one of our DOs on the CARE number between 9am and 12pm Mon-Fri. Alternatively and outside of those hours, call any committee member – names and numbers on the website.
