Volunteers who wanted to hire a coach to drive to Poland and return to Kent with Ukrainian refugees have been forced to postpone the journey after visa issues.

Their plan was to provide free, safe transport for people who had already arranged to be sponsored or hosted here, and hold a valid visa.

But after arranging the trip, they were faced with multiple logistical issues and a "ridiculous process" with visas.

Malcolm Palmer, of New Barn, near Dartford, who started the Coaches to Ukraine idea, said: "There just does not seem to be any forward planning or any central organisations that are linking people together.

"It is up to private individuals to link up with others themselves, like we've done.

"We are making it up as we go along but what else are we supposed to do?"

The 55-year-old said he believed the issues had arisen as there was no thought into how people were going to travel to the UK once they have a successful visa application and there is no official group arranging this.

He added: "Part of the problem we had was people are wary of who to trust. We set up our coach trip and made it look as professional as we could but how do people know they can trust us?

"We are now working with another organisation that we can trust and has built that."

Due to the visa and logistic issues, the trip was postponed but Malcolm said they were still able to fly those who had a seat on the coach back to the UK.

The group is now working with two outside companies which are helping with the matching of refugees to hosts. Together they have arranged a new trip.

A coach from a Polish company has been hired after the previous supplier - Anderson Travel - was unable to provide transport on the new date.

It will be leaving Warsaw on April 28 and arriving at Hartley Country Club on April 29.

"We are making it up as we go along but what else are we supposed to do..."

For further information contact journey-to-kent@talktalk.net.

You can find the group on Facebook here or by searching Coaches to Ukraine.

The group is also looking for companies to help sponsor future trips. If you are interested, contact Malcolm Palmer at malcolm@a4g-llp.co.uk.

Just last week we reported how a couple felt their efforts to help a stranded Ukrainian refugee were being stalled by the UK government's inefficient visa system.

Viktor Stozub, a 29-year-old student from Kyiv, is living in temporary accommodation in Prague having fled Ukraine in the wake of the Russian invasion.

Hans Goethals and Dimitri Breyne, from Gravesend, put in a visa application for Viktor through the government's Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme weeks ago, but have received no information since.