Sherwoods Motor Group has lent three of its demonstrator vans to help with the battle against coronavirus.
Simon MacConachie, managing director of the dealership business, which is based in the north-east of England, said: ‘It has been fantastic to see how everyone is pulling together during this crisis and we wanted to do our bit. We employ a lot of people with families who rely on the NHS, so we want to do whatever we can to help.
‘We had some demonstrator vans available and it made complete sense to put them to the best possible use for however long the lockdown lasts.’
After it put out a message on social media, the vans are now being used by the Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust to deliver personal protection equipment to NHS workers, as well as speed up the delivery of prescriptions to self-isolating or shielding people by County Durham-based Knights Pharmacy, and help The Friends of Eastwoods Park collect food from supermarkets for a food bank in Prudhoe.
Russ Greig, project manager at The Friends of Eastwoods Park, described Sherwoods’ support as ‘a godsend’, adding: ‘It’s enabled us to help so many more vulnerable people than would otherwise have been the case, and we are so grateful.’
Meanwhile, Pete Horrocks, superintendent pharmacist at Knights Pharmacy, said: ‘We have seen a significant increase in patients wanting to stay at home and we support them by delivering prescriptions, but we were already up to capacity with our own vehicles.
‘The donation of the van by Sherwoods has enabled us to take out another 30 to 40 deliveries a day, which is invaluable. Not only is it supporting more vulnerable people but it’s also protecting our staff by reducing the number of people going into the pharmacies.’
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