NHS staff in London have been given unclaimed stolen bicycles from police storage under a new scheme launched by the Metropolitan Police.

More than 100 bikes were given to staff at the Barts and London NHS Trust at a recent event at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Hackney.

Nurse Alessandro Rochi, a theatre manager at the Royal London Hospital is pictured with one of the bikes.

Charity Pro Bike Service CIC serviced the cycles for free while Hackney Council made sure the bikes had been marked and registered to BikeRegister.

Sergeant Jo Stephens said: “The project came about after we publicised a warrant we executed in Hackney in 2020 where hundreds of stolen bikes were recovered.

“Those are not the ones that are being given away here, but we were contacted on the back of the publicity by Pro Bike Service CIC with an idea for re-distributing old bikes in long-term storage.

“It seemed like a great idea to give them to people and for them to be put to good use again.”

Hundreds of stolen bicycles are recovered on the streets of the capital every year with many going unclaimed.

Andrew Attfield, Associate Director of Public Health at Barts Health NHS Trust said: “Barts Health staff are incredibly grateful to the Metropolitan Police and Pro Bike Service CIC for organising this contribution."

For further information and images contact: Angela Singleton, Press Officer for Selectamark.

Mobile: +44 (0)7905 623819
Email: angela.singleton@selectamark.co.uk
Twitter: @bikeregister