Connexions Cumbria Ltd are now able to deliver W2W in every corner of Cumbria. The Cumbria Team consists of 5 Project Workers and we will eventually have 100 scooters who nearly all ride motorbikes themselves (not compulsory – but it helps). We are just one of six organisations in a North West Cluster and our main funding comes from the North West Development Agency. We were one of the first areas in the country to have this support from our Regional Development Agency.
So what do we do? In Cumbria we provide scooters aimed at Young People (YP) normally aged 16-20 to give them a start on the work, training or even education route, which due to transport problems from their home – or for getting them to their work or college - may otherwise be opportunities they could not take up.
The aims of our Wheels 2 Work scheme, is to provide essential transport solutions to individual young people who are not served by the ever-decreasing public transport systems. This might seem a simple and straightforward issue, but for a young person who has no transport available, living in a rural area, or needing to get to somewhere not on a bus route, means that an awful lot of the tasks, opportunities and advantages the rest of us take for granted are just not doable or achievable and this affects both their formative years and their personal development and life opportunities thereafter. In short they suffer ‘social exclusion’ and through our simple support over a few months, for this young person ‘No Choices’ can turn into ‘Which Choices?’ and potentially their whole life can open up in front of them – all for the sake of a few months riding a scooter!
We always check to see what public transport is available so as not to endanger any networks already in place. Sometimes this might only involve a journey of 5-10 miles but if the bus or train stops or stations are not easily accessible or if the start and end of the journey is particularly isolated, this may as well be far longer distances – it is just as impractical. To overcome such obstacles, we train the young people to ride, via CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) and loan them a scooter for a period of 6 months (work) or 10 months (college/school year). We service, insure and tax/mot the vehicles and we give basic maintenance training i.e. checking lights, brakes etc to try and make it easy to understand how to look after a scooter.
It may surprise you to know we have an excellent safety record. An assessment is first to see why you need a scooter. If you qualify, next is the CBT, and we also have compulsory additional training, which includes a Highway Code, a computer theory test and Hazard Perception session and this happens within the first month of the loan. We also provide new helmet, armoured full-length jacket, gloves, waterproofs and reflective strip. We also do route planning and we limit the mileage up to 250 miles per week. We send weather warning texts when necessary, and we also have a ‘contract’, which are the rules of the scheme.
We don’t ‘means test’ - its all about the young persons’ access to transport. Just because the parents have transport it doesn’t mean it’s available for when the YP needs it. With constraints of working parents, shifts, or siblings it can be very difficult to get about.
Location is however the biggest factor affecting YP. One who lives within the Lake District National Park recently put it ‘I live in one of the most beautiful areas in the country – but it might as well be a prison’. A thank you note was received from another participant who has completed ‘A’ levels and has gone to Cyprus working on a conservation project and bar work until they start University in Oct. They left a note tied to the scooter saying “Thank you so much, without this bike I would of turned into a cat loving recluse! It’s given me opportunities I never would have had”.
More information contact
Julia.mullarkey@connexionscumbria.co.uk or
Connexions Office, Whitehaven 01946 695541
