History of Lewisham CT Scheme
Affordable, accessible and safe vehicle hire is much needed by many voluntary organisations within the borough.
An outing on one of our minibuses
Our minibus hire makes it possible for many groups encountering social
exclusion to obtain a better ‘quality of life’. Originally identified
by a seminar held by Lewisham Council as far back as 1988 showed a great
need and in 1991, funding was obtained through Deptford City Challenge
to carry out an independent study of the issue. This was undertaken by CILT(Centre for Independent Transport in London), and the resulting 1993 report recommended that a community transport project be set up.
The full report is extensive, but concludes that there is serious shortage of community transport in the Deptford City Challenge area which is affecting the efficiency of voluntary groups…’
In December 1997, funding was secured through Lewisham Association of People with Disabilitiesand Bridge House Estates Trust Fund to employ a development worker to develop and initiate such a scheme. LCTS became an independent charity in 1999. By 2006, LCTS provides transport for over 200 voluntary organisations and over 30 individual members.
Our statistics show that in the last year our vehicles transported over 8,000 individual people, 70% of which have some form of mobility problem. We now operate a fleet of 6 vehicles, 75% of which are fully accessible. To drive the vehicles LCTS now has over 160 volunteer drivers on the books all of whom it has trained to the nationally recognised MiDAS (Minibus Driver Awareness Scheme)
The scheme became fully independent in January 2000 and moved to and moved to fully accessible gated premises in September 2009.