ALLOA firefighter Alan Faulds has been recognised with a national honour, following decades of service to his community.

The 51-year-old, who campaigns for safer roads through the Safe Drive Stay Alive initiative, has been given a British Citizen Award (BCA) to add to his many other accolades.

He said: “I’m not normally short of words but when I found out about the award, I was speechless. 

“I was incredibly humbled by the fact that someone had taken the time and effort to nominate me, it was awe-inspiring.”

Alan became involved in Central Safe Drive 11 years ago in a move to reduce number of deaths and life-altering injuries visited upon young road users in the area.

Instrumental at its start, the Falkirk man continues to steer the group, alongside Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, NHS and the three Forth Valley councils.

Although the original partnership dissolved, individuals from each of the services, as well as families involved in the project, chose to carry on the work of the Central Safe Drive on a voluntary basis. 

As part of this, the Falkirk man is the principal organiser of Safe Drive Stay Alive – the awareness roadshow which engages with S4 pupils pupils in every school in Clackmannanshire, Stirling and Falkirk.

Alan, who works for the community fire safety department, commits to raising £24,000 every year to ensure the project can continue.

 

When the future of the initiative was threatened, he worked alongside the Advertiser in its efforts to #KeepSafeDrive – a successful campaign to secure the much-needed finance.

Alan said: “When the original partnership dissolved, I knew it was something that I wanted to take on because it was so important and the statistics bear that out. Since we started, serious injuries have dropped by almost 50 per cent.

“Raising the money to keep the scheme going is hard work and it’s getting harder with all of the cuts, but it’s making such an impact on our young people that we have to keep doing it.”

Alan was also invited to go Australia in 2013 to talk about his road safety experience and help start a road safety initiative similar to Safe Drive, which has been developed into a school-based educational input to 16-year-olds and above.

He was was nominated for a BCA, which recognises exceptional individuals who work tirelessly to make a positive impact on society, by Central Safe Drive treasurer Melanie Mitchell.

She said: “Alan was instrumental in setting the group up in the first place and then worked hard to ensure it kept going when the original partnership broke up. 

“He has been the driving force behind it and he gives a lot of his time and energy to the group.

“He is passionate about road safety because, through his job, he has seen the consequences first-hand and is very motivated to make children and young people aware of the importance of his message.”

Safe Drive Stay Alive is now in its 11th year, with over 40,000 young people in central Scotland having seen the show and heard its message.

Each member of the team takes leave to deliver a theatre-based show over the course of a week.

A powerful film depicting a re-enactment of an actual road collision involving young people is aired and, afterwards, family members of people who have been killed or suffered injuries describing how this has affected their lives onstage.

Earlier this year, all three councils in the area agreed to help fund the roadshow for 2018.