Devon Car Free Day
Car Free Day 2008
Devon Car Free Day Success
Devon Car Free Day 2008 was the biggest ever with Devon County Council, Plymouth City Council and Torbay Council all working in partnership on the event for the first time on Monday 22 September.
The day, which is organised as part of the TravelWise campaign and supports the ’International In Town Without My Car Day’, attracted record support with more organisations and businesses than ever before taking part. Devon County Council is saying a big thank you to everyone who went ‘the extra mile’ to leave the car at home and try a more sustainable way of travel, and really appreciates the amount of support given to the event this year.
The fun and creative element raises the awareness of this annual event, but the best thing to come from it has been the feedback from people who were encouraged to travel by a more sustainable means for the day and have since continued to do so.
Karen Gowlett, from the Environment Agency, is among those who made a difference to her daily commute. She cycled with a ‘bike buddy’ for the first time from Starcross to the offices at Exminster on Monday, and has since cycled all or part of the journey.
All of the organisations which pledged to encourage and support their staff to take part were entered into a draw to win £1,000 to be spent of green travel initiatives. Devon County Council’s £1,000 draw prize for supporting the day was won by Devon WildlIfe Trust who will use the funding towards cycle storage facilities to encourage cycling to work.
There were also prizes of £50 worth of vouchers for:
- best team effort
- the most creative way of getting to work
- the furthest distance travelled to work by green transport and
- the regular ‘green traveller’ award
The categories for most creative way of getting to work and the best team effort were won by three staff from Faber Maunsell. Ben Ward ran, swam and cycled from Exmouth to Exeter. Ben ran five miles from Littleham to Lympstone along the newly created Exe Estuary Trail before donning his wetsuit and meeting up with his support crew of two work colleagues John Brewer and Gavin Lowery, who followed alongside in an open canoe while Ben braved the cool waters of the estuary. During his two mile swim to the Turf Locks Hotel he was joined by a seal that wanted see what the fun was about! From the Turf the trio cycled four miles to Faber Maunsell’s offices in Pynes Hill.
Two runners-up were also chosen in the creative category,; Environment Agency colleagues Robert Harwood and Sue Smillie who took an hour and a half to travel from Kennford to Exminster by shopping trolley. And Rod Birtles from the Devon Wildlife Trust car shared from Kingsbridge to Totnes, cycled to Double Locks pub in Exeter and then paddled up to the canal basin in a kayak, before walking the final stretch to work.
Paul Sadler, Planning and Corporate Services Manager at the Environment Agency's Exminster Offices said, "As part of car free day I thought it would be good to get a photo to show how few cars were in the Exminster Environment Agency car park. The attached is a genuine photo from yesterday (middle of the day) and tells the story. Ordinarily the car park would be overflowing with cars."
John Barratt from Jacobs Engineering UK Ltd won the furthest distance travelled to work by green transport for cycling approximately 38 miles from Tavistock to Exeter. The journey took him three hours but he said the scenic route made it worthwhile.
There were so many excellent entries for the regular green traveller award that it was impossible to choose and four winners were drawn out of a hat. They were:
- Alan Denbigh, who takes the 6.30am Tally Ho bus to Totnes Station, catches the 7:05am Cross Country train to Exeter and then has a 25 minute walk to St. Lukes Campus in Exeter;
- Nicki Collas walks 45 minutes from her home in Exeter to Devon & Cornwall Constabulary HQ at Middlemoor every day in all weathers;
- Nick Pearson cycles daily from the Exton/Lympstone area along the A376 to Exeter, negotiates Sandygate roundabout and then cycles to the Devon Primary Care Trust offices adjacent to Exeter Airport;
- Ann Goodridge, who works at the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, carshares with three others from Plymouth to Exeter, a daily return trip of nearly 90 miles. She said: “We are nearing our 100th shared journey already since the start of this financial year and nearly 17,000 miles have been saved in six months. Whilst not all the members of our carshare work at the hospital, we improve our carbon footprint even further by dropping one member at the Sowton Park & Ride and another walks to work from an agreed drop off point.”
In Torbay, the £1,000 draw prize for supporting the day went to Torbay Hosptial where the money will go towards the Healthy Travel Action Plan.
The Directorate of Education team at Torbay Hospital also won the best team effort as fourteen members of staff took part with eight walking, four on the bus, one on the train and one person using the new ferry service. The team think they may repeat the experience more regularly.
Gary Brenton, Personnel & Development Manager of TLH Leisure Resort took the most creative prize by rollerblading to work, while Mark Stott won the furthest distance travelled. For the past two years, Mark travels to work every day by cycle and train, from Paignton to Force HQ at Middlemoor, Exeter.
The regular green traveller award went to Rosemary Lake, who has commuted daily between Torquay and Plymouth for the last 11 and a half years. She leaves home at 6:20am and has a brisk walk to the train station and once her train arrives in Plymouth she has another 20 minute walk to her destination.
The Plymouth Office of Devon & Cornwall Probation won the £1,000 prize offered by Plymouth City Council.
The most creative and furthest travelled categories were won by Matt Ward from Devon & Cornwall Housing who cycles and takes the train from Tywardreath to Plymouth every day, approx 38 miles each way – however on Monday he used a uni-cycle instead of his folding bike.
Winners of the Best team effort were the Senior Management Team at Crownhill Police Station. Staff cycled in from as far afield as Tavistock, Ivybridge, Crackington Haven on the north coast of Cornwall. Regular green traveller was Stu Groves from Devon and Cornwall Constabulary who covers around 2,000 miles a year on his bicycle, travelling from Hatt to Crownhill Police Station.
Staff at Hotel Barcelona in Exeter threw themselves enthusiastically into the Car Free Day initiative on Monday 22nd September, with 75% of the team arriving into work by any method other than by car. General Manager, Fiona Moores, cycled 12 miles from Talaton and back again. The furthest journey were made by the hotel’s Head Housekeeper, Iris Wheeler, who took the train from Torquay for the 26 mile journey to start her 7am shift; The chairman of the hotel’s green team, Rob O’Connell, Food & Beverage Manager, WALKED from Teignmouth – a total of 16 miles taking 3 hours but as his shift finished at midnight he car shared home. He said: “All members of staff have been very supportive of the Car Free day and all made a great effort to take part. I was very pleased to see how enthusiastic they all were.”
Liverpool Victoria Friendly Society gave a £2.50 voucher for every member of staff who supported the day.
At Bideford College the day was supported by teachers Yolande Eldridge riding a horse to school and Anthony Davis cycling 25 miles from North Molton. Other teachers and technicians from the science department also made a special effort on the day. Denis Ford sailed from Appledore to Crow Point to pick up his colleague Stuart Young, who had cycled to the river from Braunton. The pair then went back to Appledore, picking up fellow staff members Stan Pyle and Jo Thomas and they all sailed to Bideford and walked to the school.
Atkins Ltd at Pynes Hill in Exeter provided bacon and sausage sandwiches for all the "green" travellers to say thanks for the effort (and tempt a few more people out of their cars!). They reported a good success with several new people attempting the cycle in (including 2 brave souls all the way from Tiverton!!)
Torridge District Council Staff and Councillors supported Devon Car Free Day on Monday 22 September by finding alternative means of transportation to get to work. Skateboards, pogo sticks, tandems, bicycles, trains, buses and Shanks' Pony were all used instead of cars as officers and councillors found innovative ways of travel. One member of staff left home at 5.30am on foot, then caught two trains and a bus before arriving at Riverbank House at 9.10am. Councillors Eastman and Robinson combined forces on a tandem to get in from Appledore and Councillor Symons rode in on his bike from Clovelly.
The Environment Agency’s Exminster Office staff Jonathan Bailey and Martin Davies sent in a picture record of their effort. 
(1.71MB - pdf help)
Jonathan said This is first time I have ever done anything like this and the support, encouragement and incentives from the management team was much appreciated. It was a wonderful way of getting to work and not as strenuous as feared. It is just a pity that I cannot do this more often due to the time involved”
The Environment Agency’s Manley House regional office at Sowton also took part. Angela Proctor organised a beach cleanday at Teignmouth for Flood Risk Management staff from the Environment Agency, based in Exeter. 11 people travelled to and from Teignmouth by train or bike (which was hard work!) and spent the day cleaning the beaches.
Angela said Three of us travelled a total of 30 miles each by bike and it was really rewarding to get regular car users out of their cars and on tothe train Everything about our day was environmentally friendly and the Teignmouth back beaches are now sparkly clean!”
Employees of Axminster Power Tool Centre Ltd used the event to raise £365 for a local community project. Staff walked, cycled and one even arrived on stilts. The company, which ran a free mini bus for staff from Beer, Seaton and Colyton, donated £5 for every empty car parking space – 28 in all, and added £2 for every £1 donated by employees.
