News

SVD Driver/Duty Officer Annual Get-Together

6th January, 2026: SVD will once again be holding their annual Get-Together at The Thames Court pub/restaurant in Shepperton. We look forward to the date, as it will give all the volunteers the chance to meet up socially and have an enjoyable evening.

SVD attend Hilary’s Hut Meeting

5th November, 2025: Hilary’s Hut was formed in 2021. It is dedicated to combating loneliness in our community by providing fun and friendship activities that provide opportunities for mental and physical health, plus be a supportive information hub to its members. SVD attended one of their monthly meetings to advertise our services and seek potential new volunteers.

SVD now advertising in the new Staines Library

23rd July, 2025: The management team at the new Staines Library kindly gave us permission to display two SVD banners on the ground floor of the new facility. One of the banners advertises our services to potential clients/users. The other advertises our need for additional drivers.

Hopefully, they will prove beneficial in our effort to both advertise our services to those in need in our community, and to attract more volunteers to help deliver the service we provide.

SVD Annual General Meeting:

The SVD Annual General Meeting took place on Monday, 14th July, 2025 at the Council Offices in Staines upon Thames.

All the existing committee were re-elected. It was also confirmed that no price increases for journeys were needed for the forseeable future. The last time an increase was applied was back in November, 2020.

SVD Driver/Duty Officer Get-Together:

SVD held their annual Get-Together at The Thames Court pub/restaurant in Shepperton on 7th January, 2025.

It proved to be a very successful evening, with everyone having an enjoyable time. We don’t often get the chance to meet each other during the year, so having all associated with SVD, eg, drivers and duty officers getting together and sharing stories and ideas was most welcome.

Price increase from 1st November, 2020:

As agreed at a SVD Committee Meeting held on 14th July, 2020, the following changes came into effect from 1st November, 2020;

All mileage charge drives, ie, to all hospitals, and clinics, dentists, opticians, etc outside the borough of Spelthorne, increased from 45p to 50p per mile.

The capped (maximum charge) limits also increased as follows:

• Ashford Hospital £6 to £7
• St Peters/Runnymede/Walton/Weybridge Hospitals, White Lodge Centre, clinics, dentists, opticians, etc outside the borough of Spelthorne £9 to £10
• All other hospitals, ie, London, Guildford, Frimley, Woking etc £22 to £24

All fixed rate charges to clinics, dentists, opticians, etc, within the borough of Spelthorne, remain unchanged at £4.

This was the first increase to the mileage charge rate for 3 years. We hope clients still consider this new rate to be excellent value for money.