Convoy leaves Chichester to bring vital humanitarian aid to the people of Ukraine

The company has donated three crane lorries to the humanitarian organisation Stay Safe UA and now they are en route to help Ukrainian civilians near the front line.

The lorries, with volunteer drivers Chris Hurst, Malcolm Sargeant, Jamie Lewis and Lina Lazar from the Healing Hands Network charity at the wheel, are heading for the Poland/Ukraine border, where they will be handed over to Stay Safe UA. Their eventual destinations are Bakhmut and Kherson, a journey of about 1,800 miles.

The lorries are loaded with a forklift, a tracked recovery vehicle, a Bobcat loader and angle broom for rubble clearance and a container of equipment including fridges, freezers, clothing and medical supplies that have either been donated or paid for with donations.

Stay Safe UA's brave volunteers will use the lorries and machinery to provide help to affected civilians near the frontlines.

One lorry will carry a mobile shower unit, another one will become a mobile bakery and the third will be used for transportation tasks wherever the need is greatest.

Covers, which has 15 depots across Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey and Kent, has been working closely with the charity UKtoUkraine, founded by Caragh Booth, James Boughey and Pip Holmes. Covers donated generators to be used in Ukraine last winter.

There to wave off the convoy from Covers' HQ were Covers chairman Rupert Green, Pip Holmes and Henrietta Nettlefold from UKtoUkraine and Sue Stretton and Steve Grayson from the charity Healing Hands Network, which works with UKtoUkraine.