The manager of transport charity Dial A Ride, and self-confessed "Wessie", spoke to reporter IAN DUNCAN about her time there and working alongside one of Scarborough's most famous cats

JULIE Banks first moved to Scarborough when she was five-years-old because her parents ran the Somerville Hotel in North Marine Road. And since 1995 the 47-year-old has worked for Dial A Ride initially as an admin assistant before successfully applying to be manager eight years ago.

She said: "My dad used to work for CVS and said there's a job going in Dial A Ride. I put an application in and got it. All the schedules were handwritten then." Before that she had been working at Scarborough Hospital, initially in the Decontamination Unit, before ending up working in the Medical Records Department.

She said: "I went on a YOP scheme and ended up at the hospital. I only had three O levels, and one of those was pottery, there wasn't a lot of call for that." But after having done several jobs, including retail and spending three years in London, Julie really felt she had found her ideal role.

She said: "I did enjoy working at the hospital, I came into this and found my little niche in life." The previous manager, Bernard Fray, left in 2000 and she decided to apply for the position.

She said: "I hummed and harred about taking on the extra responsibility of the manager's job but I was offered it. "I couldn't imagine not working for Dial A Ride now, especially the voluntary sector, it is quite a special place to work in and different to working in the commercial sector."

She added there was a good team spirit, between all the staff and volunteers, and it was good to be providing a service to those who would otherwise be unable to get out and about.

The charity began in 1983 with just one old ambulance and from those humble origins has grown to a fleet of eight fully accessible buses. Last year the service, which is based at Allatt House in West Parade Road, completed just under 50,000 passenger journeys, has around 1,900 registered users in the Scarborough area and an annual turnover of £300,000.

She said: "These days you have to run it as a business but not lose sight of what you work for. The drivers and escorts do a fantastic job and the passengers really appreciate what they do for them.

There is a great team spirit. "The drivers come back with stories. One woman got on and thought it was the fish van and people have lost their false teeth and the escorts have had to help find them.

"When we are short staffed I go out on the bus. In this job I get to speak to people on the phone but you never see them face-to-face. I love to answer the phone and take the bookings and they say 'I don't know what I'd do without Dial A Ride'. That's what keeps people volunteering."

She added there was one elderly woman who used the service, she used it as a subject at presentations. She said: "She was 101 and we'd take her twice a week – once to Morrisons and also to the hairdressers.

"When she was ill she cancelled Morrisons but still went to the hairdressers so that she felt good about herself and had some human contact. She was part of something just for an hour." And other passengers have included former truck drivers, acrobats and a Bluebell Girl.

Julie said: "You get on a bus with someone and start talking. There are all sorts of people with really interesting stories. "If people come to volunteer the most important thing is to chat with people, you find out so many interesting things, who they are and why they came to Scarborough. The past 13 years have just gone like that."

She added that her team pulled together and coped in the face of adversity. She said: "We had three buses break down one day. I thought someone was taking the mickey. Everybody mucked in and no-one was left stranded. How many places could you go to where they'll say 'It's not my job'?"

And the most unusual aspect of working at Dial A Ride is working alongside Holyfield – a black cat with half an ear missing and named after Mike Tyson's opponent Evander Holyfield – who turned up on the doorstep about five or six years ago.

Julie said: "He's a bit of a beast. He just turned up and he was in a poor state. What do you do? You go out and buy a tin of cat food." Since then he has become "part of the furniture". His welfare is helped by donations from Ryedale Cat Protection League and a mystery benefactor who sends money for his food – he has even starred in an amateur film.

Julie said she now loves Scarborough but initially neighbours were wary of her "Wessie" family – they were originally from Castleford.

She said: "I am a Wessie and I don't have a problem with it. My mum used to say, if next door didn't have vacancies and we did they wouldn't send them to us. I've heard it bandied about but it's never bothered me. It's just something that you've heard of."

And Julie has recently, since getting her dog Ruby, been getting more of a chance to enjoy Scarborough's views with regular early morning walks.

She said: "Since getting the dog, we've had her about two months, now I've realised again what's out there on my doorstep.

"I am just five minutes from the North Bay. You can see right across the bay. I like the North Bay, it has cleaner lines."

For more information about Dial A Ride call (01723) 354434 or go to www.scarboroughdialaride.com

QUESTION TIME

Favourite film: Brief Encounter
Favourite TV show: The Apprentice
Favourite food: Ice cream – in particular Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey
Favourite drink: Taylors of Harrogate Imperial Tearoom blend made in a teapot
Favourite CD: The Killers and I used to love Glam Rock
Favourite holiday destination: Disneyland Paris and the Antrim coastline in Northern Ireland
Favourite part of Scarborough: North Bay
If you could invite any two people to dinner who would they be: Just one – Stephen Fry
Ambition: I'd like to continue working in the voluntary sector until I retire.