A would-be Tour de France volunteer who has the route on his doorstep has expressed his outrage after being asked to travel almost 100 miles to help out.
Holmfirth resident Adrian Moss has been left ‘appalled, dismayed and baffled’ by the organisational skills of TdFHub2014 Ltd, the not-for-profit company who are co-ordinating the Tour Makers, after they told him he must go to York or Harrogate instead of his own town to volunteer.
Adrian, who lives in Hinchliffe Mill, said that although placed in his preferred stage two, he was initially offered a volunteering place in York.
Confused as to why he could not volunteer closer to home, he rejected the offer and wrote to ask them for a transfer closer to home.
Instead, he was told that he could only go to Harrogate as an alternative, a location he said would be difficult to get to due to road closures and the amount of traffic as visitors clamour to watch the cyclist pass over a route including the notorious Holme Moss stretch.
Despite being enthusiastic to take part, he said that he has now given up his once in a lifetime opportunity.
He said: “I was really looking forward to helping out and perhaps making a difference but have been left shocked, dismayed and frustrated at being asked to travel so far to help out at an event which literally passes my front door. Why would I want to drive a 100 mile round trip starting at 5am?
“It’s logistical lunacy and I think it is very unfair to ask volunteers to travel many miles away from their home towns to stand by the roadside for up to eight hours for free, especially if their home towns are actually on the Tour route or if they don’t have a car”.
Adrian, 55, who would have been one of 12,000 tour makers selected to help get the event rolling on July 5 and 6 when it passes through Yorkshire, is also not happy with the amount of travel expenses that volunteers incur in order to attend training events.
He said: “I think it’s asking a bit too much of peoples’ generosity to go to training events at their own cost, something that wasn’t made apparent when I first signed up.”
TdFHUB2014 Ltd volunteer team member, Sarah Rule, said that Tour Makers had been asked to specify which stage of the event they would like to volunteer in but that it had not been possible to satisfy everyone.
She said: “We took all preferences into account but the organisation is a really complex process that involves putting thousands of people on a roster.
“We have done our best to meet everyone’s needs but there have been one or two cases in which this has not been possible.
“We can’t comment on individual cases but from the success of our training events in Leeds and the number of volunteers we believe that the process has gone down well.
“It’s a fantastic once in a lifetime opportunity and people are coming from all over the world to volunteer and make a huge commitment.”
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