Will you support clean cars for carers like me?
My name’s Caroline Sibanda. I’m a home care worker and I care a lot about the climate.
I truly truly love my job. It’s fulfilling and it means a lot to me to know I’m making a difference in someone’s life. But I spend about five hours driving every day, simply travelling to and from homes of my elderly and Disabled clients.
I worry about the impact my driving has on the planet, but I have to do my job, and it has to be done by car. Public transport isn’t really suitable (most of the rural homes I visit aren’t close to a bus stop, and the longer the journey takes, the less time I can spend with the people I care for).
Izzy, a campaigner at Possible, reached out to me in February, to talk about a new campaign idea they had, to help carers like me get electric cars.*
When Izzy reached out, I’d already spoken to my colleagues about electric vehicles. On top of the environmental impact of our cars, many of us were already worried about the cost of fuel. It already costs me around £250 a month just to fill up my car and it’s getting more and more expensive. We’ve heard electric cars could be much cheaper to run if we can get a charge point installed at home, but the biggest barrier is the price of the car in the first place.
Electric cars are way out of reach for carers like me, considering what we get paid. - and taking out loans to cover a car purchase locks us into expensive contracts with high interest rates.
But Izzy told me about France’s ‘social leasing scheme’ - where people in low-paid, high mileage jobs (like mine) can get government support to lease an electric car for just €100 a month. I couldn’t believe that this was a thing - it sounds amazing!
Izzy said that Possible wanted the UK to do something similar, so wanted to hear from carers like me about whether this would be something we’d want.
I, for one, would love a social leasing scheme for electric cars, and I know my colleagues would too.
We’re reaching out to people across the country to get show their support. This would change so much for care workers, and have a huge positive impact for future generations.
Will you show your support by adding your name?
Could you give £3 a month to support positive action on the climate crisis?
Regular gifts give us the financial stability and security to build meaningful long term campaigns and reach the areas where climate action is needed most.
* Find out more about the Clean Cars for Carers campaign.