The Taxi Charity for Military Veterans recently organised an afternoon of Go Karting for younger veterans and invited some of the older veterans they support to cheer on the racers. WWII veteran Jim Knox, 97 from Upminster surprised everyone when instead of sitting on the sidelines, he jumped in a Kart and whizzed around the track!
By doing so, Jim set a record for the oldest person to ever compete on the Go Karting circuit in Barking.
“We were delighted to welcome the group of London cabbies and veterans to The Taxi Charity event at Capital Karts,” said Stuart Lawrence, Manager, Capital Karts. “My team thoroughly enjoyed their visit and especially meeting amazing veteran Jim Knox. When I first saw Jim, I thought I’m not sure how long he will last, and boy did I have to eat my words. I have seen guys of 20 and 21 who can’t make it round the circuit in half the time he did. He was amazing and now holds the Capital Karts record for the oldest person to ever drive on our circuit in Barking.”
After a briefing and a 15-minute warm-up, Jim, the younger veterans and some volunteer cabbies raced against the clock on the longest indoor track in the UK.
“What an experience, I loved every minute of it,” Jim said. “At my age you have to give things a go and best of all, my time wasn’t the slowest of the group.”
The event at Capital Karts in Barking was arranged by The Taxi Charity primarily for younger veterans to have an afternoon of friendly competitive fun followed by pizza and soft drinks with volunteer cabbies and WWII veterans.
The Taxi Charity is run by volunteer London black taxi drivers and has been supporting thousands of veterans of all ages since 1948.
Terry Ward, London Cabbie and Taxi Charity Committee Member said, “The Taxi Charity is well known for the support we give to older veterans, but it is less well known that we support younger veterans too. We are always looking for opportunities to plan rewarding and fun events that might be of interest to younger veterans, and we thought that Go Karting would be the perfect opportunity for everyone to have some fun. As well as inviting some veterans through associations we have worked with before, we also approached London based Veterans Aid UK, who care for veterans in crisis and the Stoll Foundation who provide supported housing to vulnerable veterans, who arranged for veterans to join us.”
