Goodyear closure: Former staff donate van to charity to help homeless in Wolverhampton

The workers, who left the Bushbury Lane site by December last year, handed over more than £15,000 from their 5/344 Transport and General Workers Sick and Distress Fund to pay for the vehicle, with other equipment soon to be donated too.

The van will be used by the Good Shepherd Ministry in the city, which helps the homeless and others in need.

The group provide practical assistance in the form of food, clothing, bedding and toiletries to those who need them, and the new van will provide the way of transporting the goods.

Already it has been put to good use in the city, transporting boxes of fresh and packaged foods.

The former Goodyear workers will also soon provide two new cookers for the Good Shepherd as well as an extractor fan so that those working there can continue to provide hot meals to those who need them.

Cyril Barrett, chairman of the Unite branch at Goodyear said: "We visited the Good Shepherd and saw first hand the tremendous work they do in helping the homeless, the mentally ill and the vulnerable.

"The people that work there are very hardworking and dedicated.

"The work they do reminded us of the days of the Goodyear charitable fund that helped many causes in our region over the years.

"And that's why two retired secretaries of the committee came out to present the van.

"It was a special, proud day for us."

Now, the former workers are appealing for other good causes, particularly registered charities to come forward to receive new equipment or help.

Mr Barrett continued: "We want to help as many registered charities that we can.

"We'd rather give equipment and other items so we know that the donations will be used directly by those who really need them."

The donation comes as in November last year, the workers gave £1 million to the city's Compton Hospice which cares for some of Wolverhampton's most ill people.

The money will be used to create a new development including a Community Coordination Centre. Work on the centre will begin next year.

In 2015, Goodyear made the devastating announcement that it was to close with with 330 jobs to be lost.

The remaining workers left the Goodyear site on December 20 last year, whilst a close-down period is continuing until June this year.

To apply for equipment write to Cyril Barrett, 5/344 Transport and General Workers Sick and Distress Fund, Care of the Union Office, Goodyear Dunlop Tyres Ltd, Bushbury Lane, Wolverhampton, WV10 9TT.