BMW owner in free chauffeur offer for school proms

A woman who volunteered to chauffeur students to their school proms in her BMW has said she was motivated to help struggling families after she experienced "anxiety" about her own prom as a teenager.

Hannah Taylor, from Sefton on Merseyside, said she got the idea after buying a convertible recently.

She then posted her offer on social media and has since received about a dozen requests, including for proms held at Aintree Racecourse.

"People may think it's such a materialistic thing but it's not," she said. "Proms can be a big anxiety when you're young."

Ms Taylor said her family's financial circumstances when she was a teenager led to her own worries about the prom, as she could not afford luxuries.

It resulted in her deliberately turning up late in a taxi so no-one would notice her.

She said a mother recently told her that a local prom had led to costs of about £300.

Ms Taylor, who has two children, said she "worried" for families who could not afford enjoying the end-of-school events.

Having recently bought an open-top car, she decided to post her idea of offering free chauffeur rides on a closed community group, saying she "never wanted it to be a me-me thing".

She said she wanted to do "something that's extra-special", adding that she hoped local teenagers would feel they had "the best prom and wouldn't change anything".

"If you've got a nice car, it takes a couple of minutes to help," she said.

Her partner has also joined her in volunteering as a chauffeur with his car and other owners of Mercedes and Range Rovers have since offered their services.

Ms Taylor hopes a dozen volunteers can chauffeur local students for next year's proms.

"The community needed one person to start that," she said.

Ms Taylor said the response from teenagers she had taken to recent proms had been "really good".

"Everyone's been grateful. It's actually gone really well - they've been so lovely."

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