Lunch club minibus driver role specific training
Training 3: your role on the day of the lunch club (4 minute read)
The day of the lunch club has finally arrived! This module will take you through your roles and responsibilities throughout the day as a lunch club minibus driver.
The first thing you need to do is conduct safety checks and complete safety records on the minibus to ensure that it is safe to drive.
Once the minibus is ready to drive you should follow your route that you have prepared earlier and collect the older people.
Collecting the older people
When it comes to picking up each older person from their home, remember to give yourself plenty of time so that no one feels rushed. In general, it’s a good idea to aim to arrive at the lunch club venue around five or ten minutes before the start time, but the most important thing is that all the older people are safe and comfortable.
Ideally, you’ll have already planned for and made considerations around parking and access so it might be a good idea to make a note of any instructions before you set off.
Please make sure you park safely and appropriately and that you look out for hazards nearby that might make it difficult for the older people to access the minibus (for example, uneven paving or an overgrown hedge).
The minibus journey
It’s vital that you drive safely and carefully when transporting older people to and from the lunch club. Please bear in mind that older people can struggle more with motion sickness and maintaining their position in a moving vehicle, and please therefore try to adjust your driving style to ensure you are driving as smoothly as possible.
The journey to and from the lunch club can be a great opportunity for you the older people to chat with and get to know each other.
Important
If during a chat an older person or another volunteer tells you something that concerns, you (for example something that makes you worry that they might be at risk of harm) please speak to the lunch club coordinator in private as soon as possible.
The lunch club coordinator will follow the Re-engage safeguarding adults at risk policy and report the concern to Re-engage. It’s important that you don’t promise to keep anything that an older person or another volunteer tells you a secret or to ‘fix’ any problems that the person may be facing.
Your role is to report your concerns as soon as possible to the lunch club coordinator.
The lunch club
During the lunch club itself, your role will be to chat with everyone, initiating conversations that focus on the older people themselves and gently encouraging people to come out of their shell if they seem uncertain. Your help will also be very much appreciated by the lunch club volunteers when it comes to serving the food and drinks and helping to clear up afterwards.
As Re-engage staff and volunteers, we all have a responsibility to look out for each other’s health and safety. Many older people have mobility issues and may be more at risk of accidents.
To help keep everyone safe at the lunch club, please keep an eye out for the following health and safety concerns:
- Trip hazards, such as people’s bags or the edge of a rug.
- Slip hazards, such as spilled drinks or a recently mopped floor.
- Burning or scalding risks, such as an older person leaning to pick up a mug of hot tea which might be too heavy for them.
If you see any potential hazards during the lunch club, please alert the rest of the group and support the lunch club coordinator to mitigate any risks (for example, by helping to move objects that someone might trip over into another room).
Driving the older people home
Now that the weekly lunch club is over, all that’s left to do is say your goodbyes and drive the older people back home safely.
Important. Action needed.
If you've completed all the training, there’s only one more step for you to complete. You’ll then be ready to start your volunteering role with Re-engage. Please click the button below to complete the volunteer agreement.
Congratulations!
You’ve completed your lunch club minibus driver training with Re-engage. We’re always looking for ways to improve the training materials we offer to our volunteers so if you have any ideas or suggestions, please do let us know by contacting one of our friendly team at knowledge@reengage.org.uk.
We hope you enjoy your time as a volunteer with Re-engage. Thank you so much for your support.