AN OKEHAMPTON community car driver has been highly commended by Devon County Council for his voluntary work driving passengers to hospital appointments. Laurie Bawn has been volunteering four days a week for the Okehampton District Community Transport Group for six years. Nominating him to be Devon?s community transport driver of the year, the Okehampton group praised him for his happy disposition and his knack of making ?each of his passengers feel special?. Laurie received a certificate at a civic reception, along with eleven other short-listed volunteers. The Okehampton community transport group is currently seeking additional volunteer drivers like Laurie. Following recent changes to hospital transport for one-off appointments, patients are now being advised to contact their community transport groups in order to get to hospitals. This is putting additional strain on the Okehampton group. Customers of the service are therefore being asked to be patient, and to understand that the new pressure being put upon the service might mean that they are not always able to fulfil every request for a hospital trip. Patients also need to understand that whereas the former hospital transport scheme was able to charge just £5 each way for trips, regardless of length, as a small charity, Okehampton?s community transport group needs to charge a minimum mileage rate of 45p a mile. This is just to cover the vehicle and fuel costs of journeys ? but it will usually mean a higher charge for trips to hospitals in Exeter and Plymouth unless drivers can ?double up? on jobs. Anybody interested in helping out the scheme at this busy time by becoming a volunteer driver should contact Sandra on 018378 55000 or pop into the Okement Centre in Okehampton for a chat.