Castleford taxi firm offers free journeys to over-60s attending Covid vaccine appointments

A Castleford taxi firm is offering free journeys to people attending their vaccination appointments.
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Cas Cars is volunteering free taxi journeys for over-60s travelling to appointments at Castleford Civic Centre.

Owner Shukran Riaz said: “We thought we’d give something back to the community. The drivers are already there, so bringing someone with them won’t be much of an issue.

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“The whole aim is basically to get people out, to get them vaccinated. The faster it’s done the better really.”

Cas Cars is volunteering free taxi journeys for over-60s travelling to and from appointments at Castleford Civic Centre. Photo: Cas CarsCas Cars is volunteering free taxi journeys for over-60s travelling to and from appointments at Castleford Civic Centre. Photo: Cas Cars
Cas Cars is volunteering free taxi journeys for over-60s travelling to and from appointments at Castleford Civic Centre. Photo: Cas Cars

Mr Riaz said he hoped that assisting people to their appointments would help speed up the vaccine rollout.

“The faster everyone gets the jab, the faster we can get the public back out shopping, going to restaurants,” he said. “And the faster our drivers can start making more money and we can get back to normal.

“We can’t get out of this until we all work together.

“It’s not a one man thing. The government and council and police can only do so much. It’s for us to go out there and do our bit.

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“It’s a really bad situation at the moment. Even talking about it is depressing.

“Everyone needs to pull together and work together to get this over and done with as soon as possible. We all just need to work together.”

Mr Riaz said he hoped the service would provide some comfort to people concerned about their appointments, particularly if they were nervous about using public transport.

And he stressed that people did not need to book their taxis in advance.

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“A lot of vulnerable people used to taxis back in the 90s or early 2000s," he said. "You were waiting half an hour. Now we can ring up for a taxi it’s very different.

"Back in the day it was very hard to get a taxi. Now you ring up and the taxi’s there in 10 minutes.

“The technology is very different, but people are still in that mentality that they won’t get the taxi. They’re scared that the taxi won’t arrive because that’s what they’re used to.

"But if we can do this it will relieve the pressure on them. Straight away we’ll be able to relieve that pressure.

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“And it’s free so people don’t have to worry about cost. Our whole aim is to get as many people to the vaccination centre as fast as possible."

Contact Cas Cars on 01977 556677 to find out more or request a taxi.

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