PEOPLE using Colchester Foodbank will be able to travel home for free thanks to the generosity of a bus company.

First Essex has teamed up with the Colchester Foodbank to allow those on hard times who are visiting the centre to get there and back on buses rather than walking long distances with heavy bags.

Free bus journey vouchers will be given to both volunteers and clients.

Steve Hartman, operations manager for First Essex in Colchester, said: “We play a key role in the local community by running a comprehensive network of bus services around Colchester every day.

“Not surprisingly, it is very likely that some of the areas where bus services run, will have local residents living below the poverty line and are in a crisis situation.

“The team of volunteers at the foodbank provide a wonderful service for people who are in crisis and need some assistance with day to day basic requirements such as food. “ Jo Stevenson, of the Trussell Trust, which runs the foodbank, said: “Trussell Trust foodbank managers often meet people who have had to walk miles to reach emergency support and then face walking a long way home with heavy bags of food.

“If you don’t have enough money to put food on the family table, you certainly don’t have enough money for travel.

“The bus voucher scheme has made a real, and immediate, impact already with a number of Trussell Trust foodbanks in the Midlands, Norfolk and now in Essex.

“It is an innovative and very practical project which offers an immediate solution to people who are at crisis point.”

Jo added: “It’s great to see the extension of a scheme that will help foodbanks make even more of a difference in Colchester.”

To access the food at the foodbank, clients take a voucher to the centre which has been issued by a care professional such as doctors, health visitors, social workers, the Citizens Advice Bureau and police who have identified a person or family in crisis.

The partnership is also working in conjunction with other businesses and will see food collection events being held at supermarkets throughout the year.

Shoppers are also asked to donate a few items for the local foodbank when they do their weekly shop.