FIFTEEN YEARS of getting people in Fife moving were celebrated by Chancellor Gordon Brown yesterday.

Mr Brown was visiting the Crosshill-based community transport organisation Trans-Fife which has grown out of all recognition.

It started off with one second-hand bus in 1989 and now runs a fleet of cars and minibuses, catering for a wide range of different training and transport needs.

The not-for-profit group, whose aim is to remove transport as a barrier to getting people into training or work or for social reasons, now employs 34, has 12 people on the New Deal, an army of volunteers and an annual turnover of £600,000.

It was set up by the committee of Central Fife Volunteer Bureau to provide accessible transport for community-based groups in the Benarty area who were unable to gain access to public transport.

As well as providing transport, the organisation has developed and grown to meet new challenges and offer new solutions.

One of these is Wheels to Work, lending vehicles to allow unemployed people to get back into training or jobs who would not otherwise be able to take up posts because of a lack of suitable public transport.

More than 130 groups use Trans-Fife’s bus service every year, averaging more than 4500 hires for more than 60,000 people whose activities include shopping, theatre trips, education, lunch clubs and mystery tours.

In addition it provides drivers for NHS Fife for the out-of-hours doctor service and has a division called Driver Training Solutions, set up in 2004 to help the unemployed and socially disadvantaged to acquire driving skills.

Trans-Fife chairman Willie Clarke paid tribute to the group’s partners as it was only through a committed partnership approach that the organisation had grown and expanded.

“Without their support none of our achievements would have or will continue to be possible.

“This proves that by all working together, regardless of whether a large or small agency, collectively we can make a difference in the eradication of poor health, unemployment and the marginalisation of the most vulnerable in our communities, by creating alternative transport solutions,” he said.

The Chancellor said the Trans-Fife team had played a part in creating one of the most successful social enterprises in the whole of the country.

He said that it was all the more important in Fife, where there had been high unemployment and where the area was mostly rural.

“From that second-hand bus to the high standard of the transport available now, everyone should be congratulated.

“More than 200 people have got jobs who wouldn’t have had the job but for the service of Wheels to Work which is available.

“It is providing opportunities for people all over Fife to get jobs,” he said.

The Chancellor also praised the partnership approach, saying everyone involved realised the need to work together to make things happen.

“This is probably the most successful of all the projects we have got in this area and people look to it from all over the UK.”