Travel Hands Trustee

Join us in the mission to make London the most accessible city in the world!

Become a trustee with Travel Hands (www.travelhands.co.uk), a service designed to ease the outdoor commute of VIP (Visually Impaired People) by pairing them with sighted & verified volunteers to walk together to similar destinations ensuring a safe, convenient, and inexpensive travel experience.

Why does Travel Hands exist?

Think about your daily journey. How many intersections or staircases do you navigate, signs you pass by, paths and roads, or changes at the tube or bus stations? How many people cross your path, only for you to have to suddenly change direction? Now think about how much harder your day would be if you were partially sighted, or blind: this is what it’s like for the 285 million VIPs in the world.

And no, this is not a niche problem. For these people, navigating busy urban landscapes can be extremely challenging. Guide dogs can offer huge support, but with the cost of breeding, raising, and training the dog (and their eventual user) approaching £63,000, it’s not an option for most.

TfL currently offers VIP, Freedom Passes to travel for free and has a system in place where blind people can ask for on-platform assistance. But even walking to the bus stop or to the tube station is tough. Even for the shortest of distances, a VIP has to face the hassle of booking a taxi when making an unaccompanied journey. The trip is normally made through a phone call and entails an average waiting time of 20 minutes, despite being a brief 10-minute walk.

About Travel Hands

Travel Hands is a charity that pairs VIP with sighted and verified volunteers to walk together towards their similar destinations.

A VIP can submit a trip request that is automatically sent to a volunteer near them, alerting the volunteer to their location. The accepting volunteer will then come and pick up the VIP and walk towards the requested destination.

VIP pay for the service and Volunteer help in a flexible way and walk more. Volunteers are vet through Enhanced DBS, and trained by us. As a thank you, they receive reward incentives based on the distance walked with VIP through affiliate corporate partners. 

A short video on Travel Hands demonstrating users in London. 

Who are we looking for to join us in our mission

We seek Trustees who can help us expand Travel Hands as a vital charity for people with visual impairments. The role is critical in ensuring VIP is at the heart of the service. The Trustee will monitor the objectives of the charity are met and deliver our ultimate goal of creating an inclusive world for all people with disabilities.

As a new Trustee, we hope you will bring exceptional skills and experience to our team. Share the mission of Travel Hands to make sure our voice is heard and that we can continue to inspire our communities furthermore. We seek candidates who have the following skill:

• UK-based candidate with a good understanding of UK society, culture and civil society
• Ability to add their experiences to the growth of Travel Hands
• Strong interest in the humanitarian sector and a commitment to Travel Hands values
• Be able to provide the time commitment required for this role
• Experience as a Trustee previously
• Wide professional network
• Effective communication and networking skills
• Leadership skills

Remuneration: This post is voluntary and will not receive a salary, although reasonable and proper expenses incurred to fulfil the role are reimbursable, including travel expenses.

Duration: Two year term renewable twice (maximum tenure of 6 years).

Contact: Write to anastasiia@vipworldservices.com or call us at +44 20 39661650