Community car schemes which save elderly people stress and steep taxi fares look set to be rolled out over more areas of north Norfolk after a successful meeting in Cromer yesterday.

Representatives from a range of voluntary schemes in rural north Norfolk met to share their expertise with other communities which currently do not offer a service to take their residents to and from medical appointments.

Now their know-how may lead to schemes in Cromer, Sheringham and Bacton whose town and parish council representatives also attended.

Those present heard that it could cost £45 each way for a taxi trip from Overstrand to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital compared to a suggested donation of £25 for the whole trip with the Holt Area Caring Society whose volunteer drivers always waited until the patient was ready to go home.

The meeting was organised by North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb, whose 94-year-old mother uses the services of the Holt group to take her from her home in the town to hospital appointments in Norwich and Cromer.

Mr Lamb said he hoped the meeting would help fill gaps in the important service and he was delighted that those schemes present agreed to set up a network, offering to share their knowledge with others. “It can be quite a struggle for people, especially if they are frail and elderly. Many parts of north Norfolk do not have good public transport and getting to the Norfolk and Norwich can be a long old haul and quite a strain if you have to change buses as well.

“The idea of a volunteer car driver taking you from door to door can be a lifeline,” said Mr Lamb.

The meeting, which was also attended by representatives from surgeries, Norfolk County Council, parish and town councils, North Norfolk Clinical Commissioning Group, Cromer Hospital, and Norfolk Older People’s Strategic Partnership, heard that short trips could also be a problem for people without their own or public transport.

Sara Ponder, business manager at Cromer Group Practice, said she had lost count of the number of taxis arriving at the surgery which had brought patients only a very short distance but at a cost of about £5 per trip. One third of the practice’s 12,750 patients were over 65 and she said a voluntary car scheme in the town would be very welcome.

North Walsham neighbours Louisa Cheeseman and Sylvia Ginn, from Arnold Pitcher Close, use North Norfolk Community Transport’s Poppy Bus for shopping trips and its volunteer car drivers, like Joyce Sewell, for medical appointments.

Mrs Ginn, 80, has used community cars for three recent hospital appointments, costing her £21 return each time. “It’s been a godsend,” she said. “The drivers are friendly and reliable.”

■ For more information on setting up or volunteering for a scheme, contact Liz Traynier at Holt Area Caring Society on 01263 711243.

■ For http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/volunteer_medi_car_schemes_set_to_expand_in_north_norfolk_saving_elderly_stress_and_steep_taxi_fares_1_1996269