Ukraine war: Cornwall truck and taxi drivers take aid to Poland

10 March 2022

News image — Tomasz Palonka (left) and Wayne Fielder (second from right) travelled from Cornwall to Poland, delivering aid for refugees

Wayne Fielder Truck drivers holding the Cornish flag — Tomasz Palonka (left) and Wayne Fielder (second from right) travelled from Cornwall to Poland, delivering aid for refugees

Truck and taxi drivers from Cornwall have driven aid to the Poland-Ukraine border to help fleeing refugees.

Taxi driver Darren Tait said the emotion was "unbelievable" when the convoy of drivers arrived in Poland.

Drivers said they had received donations from across Devon and Cornwall and people had offered to donate money for fuel.

Some of the drivers are taking Ukrainian refugees to host families in Germany.

Wayne Fielder The team loading a small truck with aid in Poland — The aid was donated for people fleeing Ukraine

Truck driver, Tomasz Palonka, and his wife Jolanta have collected donations in Newquay, such as clothing, sanitary items, nappies and first aid.

Mr Palonka drove a truck, setting off from Victoria services, Cornwall, on Sunday, travelling through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany west to east and into Poland, arriving on Wednesday.

Jolanta and Tomasz Palonka with donations — Jolanta and Tomasz Palonka, from Poland, have been living in the South West for three years

Wayne Fielder, a truck driver from Redruth, also took donations and said he was inspired to travel the 1,431 miles (2,304km) after watching the war on the news.

"The people were so friendly and really pleased to see us.

"I feel like we've done something good, but we haven't done enough, it's such a small thing," he said.

Mr Fielder said they were driving back to Cornwall but he would "head back" as soon as he arrived home, if there were more donations that needed delivering.

Darren's Cars Darren and his team in Warsaw — Darren Tait (centre) and his team of volunteers in Warsaw

Mr Tait told BBC Radio Cornwall nine vehicles had transported nappies, first aid and trauma kits to a charity, which had been loaded on a bus to Ukraine.

"The look on their faces when we dropped trauma kits off to them - you can't describe.

"It was more than humbling, knowing you are improving someone's quality of life who is in a really horrible situation, you can't put words to that," he said.

Darren's Cars Taxi full of donations — The group unloaded their taxis in Warsaw

Mr Tait said two vehicles, including a 17-seater mini-bus from his convoy had stayed behind, bringing Ukrainian refugees from Warsaw to their host families in Germany.

"What we've seen is heartbreaking. We've just had a coach pull up next to us full of refugees, there's probably about 50 of them and you can't hear a word. They looked shell-shocked," Mr Tait said.

He said that the team were planning to go back on 14 April with more donations.