About Travel Hands
Travel Hands is a charity dedicated to supporting Visually Impaired People (VIPs) by pairing them with sighted, verified volunteers for safe, reliable, and friendly outdoor travel. Whether it’s for a walk, a medical appointment, or a social outing, Travel Hands ensures that VIPs can commute with greater confidence, safety, and independence.
Launched in May 2021 in London, Travel Hands has successfully completed over 1,000 journeys, helping VIPs navigate the city with ease.
Travel Hands function through a hybrid model combining a call centre and mobile-web apps.
Our customer service team manages journey requests, communicates with users, and ensures safety during trips.
VIPs or our backend team can request a journey, which is then matched with nearby available Travel Hands volunteers.
Verified Volunteers: All our volunteers undergo Enhanced DBS checks and are trained through online or in-person courses.
The Need for Travel Hands
With 360,000 VIPs in the UK and 43,000 in London, many individuals struggle with outdoor travel challenges. Our service, available daily from 9 AM to 9 PM, helps VIPs lead more independent lives.
Our Key Focus Areas
- Supporting VIPs – Raising awareness and ensuring more VIPs benefit from our service.
- Recruiting Volunteers – Encouraging Londoners to join as Travel Hands Guides, with reward points redeemable for vouchers and discounts. Travel costs are reimbursed.
- Community Partnerships – Collaborating with local charities, organisations, and businesses to promote the service and expand our volunteer network.
- Funding & Donations – Seeking financial support to sustain operations, improve technology, enhance volunteer rewards, and expand our outreach.