Rising fuel costs puts strain on transport charity

Rising fuel costs puts strain on transport charityJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAlice Bouverie,Newent, GloucestershireandGeorgia Eadie,West of EnglandBBCThe cost of rides from the service has gone up by 50p per tripA transport charity providing a "lifeline" to the community says it will have to find an extra £20k to cover increased fuel costs. Gloucestershire charity, Sheppard House Health and Social Care, has been forced to put the price of their dial-a-ride service up because the increased costs have made it "impossible" to make it work otherwise. Lyndon Biddle, from the charity, said "some costs we just have to pass on because the margins are so fine". The service provides transport for people with mobility issues in Newent in the Forest of Dean and the surrounding villages. More from GloucestershireCampaigners brand £5m repairs to lido 'unnecessary'A step back in time at vintage vehicle eventGrade II listed pub is saved from redevelopmentBiddle said the charity was finding it is "increasingly expensive" to fill up their fleet of minibuses. He predicted the increase is around 35%, which he said, "could be the difference between profit and loss". The dial-a-ride service has gone from £6 to £6.50 per return trip. Increasing the price is "not something we do lightly and we've managed to hold the price for several years, but unfortunately the fuel increase has tipped us over the edge," said Biddle. Lyndon Biddle, from Newent Association for the Disabled says rising costs has put the service under "extra pressure"Eco shop owner, Kirsty Scott, is also feeling the pinch with rising costs. She relies on importing a lot of the herbs and spices she sells in store from abroad. The cost of some items have gone up by "30% overnight", which has forced her to "put the prices up," she said. Despite shops closing around her in Lydney in the Forest of Dean, she sai...