This is a progress report as we come to the end of 2024, setting us up as much as possible for 2025...
[I hope to move more places from the 'In Process' box to the 'Drivers List Confirmed' or 'Drivers Recruited / Fuel Funded' boxes before the end of this year but it's not really up to me, as I am waiting on people getting back to me or Drivers allocating themselves - so it may take until early 2025...]
What does each box mean?
‘DRIVERS LIST CONFIRMED’…
This means that we have a WhatsApp Group set up between UKWT & the Wildlife Rescues / Vet Practices: in the WhatsApp Groups are myself, a representative from the Rescue or Vet Practice and the Drivers.
Transport Requests are made through the WhatsApp Group, by the Rescue/Practice and Drivers can respond.
As I am in the Group, I can be on hand to help if Drivers have any questions & oversee Drivers getting home safe (often Rescues & Practices are too busy providing emergency care to animals to be able to check on a Driver after drop off) and check if they want fuel reimbursed straight after a transport. I can also thank them both privately and publicly, with I think is very important, as everyone is giving up their vehicle and time and should be recognised for their kindness.
‘DRIVERS RECRUITED / FUEL FUNDED’…
This is where UKWT has bespoke relationships with each of these Rescues, mostly operating as a recruitment service, while the Rescues run Drivers under their own banner: overall, it’s a simple way of just letting Drivers on our databases (who join through our UKWT recruitment campaigns) know how to apply to these Rescues independently - providing them with links to go to, for example, on their own websites - to drive for them.
We run our own UKWT WhatsApp Groups for each of these places, so that our Drivers have a way to still ask us for fuel once they have done a transport job, if they want to. (Even though they are choosing to drive for the Rescue under the Rescue’s banner and totally independent of UKWT, the Rescues are still approved by us as a place that wildlife can be confidently passed to for high welfare care, so we are happy to provide our UKWT Drivers with the fuel to drive for them).
We ask Drivers - if they want to - to use the WhatsApp Groups to let us know if/when they’re out on a transport, as often the Rescue is too busy to check that a Driver is home safe and safety is paramount to us.
‘IN PROCESS’…
This means that I either have a Drivers List waiting to be provided to these Rescues (and I am just waiting for some paperwork back from the Rescues, before moving forward) or I am waiting for the remaining Drivers on our UKWT Database - about a 3rd of the database - to finish allocating themselves to these lists. [In summary, ‘in process’ pretty much means that I am still chasing up some bits and pieces from others before UKWT services can be finalised.]