Mercedes-Benz dealer Rygor Commercials has helped Hope For Tomorrow move one of its Mobile Cancer Care Units (MCCU) to a new location where it can help reduce pressure on the NHS.

Hope for Tomorrow helps the NHS bring cancer care closer to patients’ homes, using a Mercedes-Benz Actros rigid as a MCCU.

The charity launched the world’s first ever MCCU in 2007, to help those who are living with cancer spend more time with family, friends and loved ones.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hope for Tomorrow has found itself helping to reduce footfall into NHS hospitals, therefore playing a vital role in stopping the virus spreading.

The charity puts its trust in Mercedes-Benz trucks to keep its ground-breaking service on the move and the Rygor Commercials team to provide and maintain the vehicles.

With a recent change in contract for one of the units which was based in Cornwall to go up to Middlesex NHS Trust, Hope for Tomorrow was struggling to organise the movement of the vehicle, due to current health and social distancing guidelines.

Ian Smart, from Rygor’s service team, said: “I received a call from Hope for Tomorrow on the Wednesday, to see what I could do to help get one of their units from Cornwall up to Middlesex. Normally they would have two people drive down to the unit and then one drive the unit back, but this was not responsible during the current health situation. Luckily at Rygor we have our own transport team and was able to send one driver down in a low loader to bring the vehicle back up to our workshop here in Westbury, Wiltshire.

“It is always our aim to get vehicles on the road as soon as possible, but with such an important vehicle which provides a critical and life-changing service, together, our team made it their mission to get the MCCU up to its new location as soon as possible.

“To maximise uptime of the unit, we checked its service history and carried out the necessary maintenance on it a few weeks early and whilst we had the vehicle on site, made sure it was looking its best with a full valet and livery update.”

Leanda Bickley, from Hope for Tomorrow’s Operations team, said: “It’s an absolute pleasure working with Ian and the team at Rygor. They understand our charity and what our NHS Partners need to enable them to care for cancer patients within the community. Rygor’s team not only overcame the COVID-19 restrictions we faced in collecting one of our mobile units, but they also carried out a thorough inspection, cleaned it and delivered it to a new partner, all within five days. Rygor has supported Hope for Tomorrow and our NHS Partners during these unprecedented times, and for that reason we want to say a big ‘thank you’ to the Rygor Mercedes-Benz team.”

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