A MOTHER, daughter and grandmother from Ukraine are on their way to the Scottish Borders this morning Wednesday April 27 thanks to the efforts of inspirational Whitstable couple Francis (Fran) Wildman and his partner Jane Darling.

Moved by heart-wrenching coverage of the Ukraine crisis, the pair bought a 17-seater minibus and had it adapted to carry the maximum number of people and pets before setting off to Poland.

Since early March they have been picking up refugees from Przemysl on the border between Poland and Ukraine and so far have delivered sixty one people, children of all ages from small babies, mums, grandmothers, three dogs and two cats - to eight countries: France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Latvia, the Czech Republic and Poland.

Fran and Jane focused on helping those who would struggle to negotiate public transport, people with babies or very young children, the old and less able and those with pets.

Yesterday Tuesday April 26, they arrived back in the UK with 10 passengers, nine adults, one little girl and a small dog called Charlie.

All had sponsor visas and were dropped at various parts of the country.

The last stop will be Hawick, later today where the family of three will be left with someone they know from Ukraine.

Fran told the Border Telegraph: “I first arrived at the Przemysl refugee camp near Poland’s border with Ukraine on March 7 in my seven seater people carrier.

“I quickly realised we could help more people with a bigger vehicle so returned to England two weeks later where my partner, Jane Darling, and I bought a twelve-year-old, seventeen seater minibus.

“A mechanic friend kindly took out three seats to make more room for luggage - and big dogs, a Rhodesian Ridgeback being the biggest: Ukrainians love their pets.

“I returned to Przemysl on March 27, now with the bigger vehicle and this time with Jane, and we’re still going.

“With six weeks on the road and counting we’ve so far clocked up more than 16,000 miles.

"Yesterday we made out first trip to the UK with drop offs in Bristol, Cambridgeshire, Merseyside, Lancashire and the Scottish Borders as the visas start to trickle through. These people will be among the first going to host families in the UK.

“We would like to continue doing this for as long as there is a need. Cost is a consideration with fuel in excess of £200 a day, overnight stays on longer journeys and food en-route.

“We don’t ask our passengers to contribute but have had a lot of very generous support from family and friends and now many others on our GoFund Me page for which we are very grateful.”

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