Bikes abandoned at railway stations across the Thameslink and Great Northern network have been delivered to a Huntingdon charity to transform the lives of people with learning difficulties.

Some 24 bikes, left at stations across Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Norfolk, were delivered to TAG Bikes on Wednesday (March 11).

There, a team of adults with learning difficulties will service and repair the bikes before selling them back to the community at an affordable price.

All the money earned is reinvested back into the project, run by Cambridgeshire County Council as part of its Supporting into Work programme.

Bikes being delivered to the programme in Huntingdon.

placeholder image — Bikes being delivered to the programme in Huntingdon.

Rob Whitehead, Great Northern and Thameslink’s Community Engagement Manager, said: “More people than ever are choosing sustainable modes of transport, like cycling, to reach our stations and we’ve been improving and adding new facilities to meet this demand.

“Railway stations are a key part of local life. The work we support in partnership with the communities we serve, helps build sustainable and prosperous places for us all. Our partnership with TAG is one of many which help contribute to the ‘circular economy’ of recycling and improving mobility. It is surprising that some people do abandon their bikes at our stations, but I am very pleased we’re able to help put them back into good use.”

Great Northern and Thameslink run a range of schemes to support communities along its network, including recycling uniforms into mattress filling and selling unclaimed electronics to raise money for good causes.

Left bikes are collected from stations by the train operators’ facilities team, who store them in a depot near Letchworth for three months where they can be claimed by owners, before being driven to the workshop at Huntingdon Community Centre.

Thameslink and Great Northern's Graham Wood (R) and Neil Stevenson (L) load bikes onto the van at the train operator's Letchworth depot

The workshop is run under the supervision of employment skills coordinator and qualified bike mechanic Rob Bierton who helps the adults acquire new skills in a work based environment.

Since the partnership between the train operators and TAG began in 2018, the project has taken delivery of more than 1,000 bikes - with funds raised from selling the bicycles spent supporting the project with additional parts, tools, work stands and digital equipment to help the learners’ development and enable the project to grow.

Rob Bierton, TAG’s Employment Skills Coordinator for Cambridgeshire County Council said: “The atmosphere in the workshop when we receive donations is wonderful and it’s easy to see how transformative TAG is for the adults we work with. It is only through the support of donors like Great Northern and Thameslink that we can do what we do. This partnership with GTR started many years ago and we are so grateful that they have continued to support us at TAG Bikes.

“It is extremely rewarding to see both the confidence and skills improve in the young adults we work with, but also knowing that each bike which leaves our workshop will be put to good use in the community.”

Adults supported by TAG are said to have found greater independence, such as building the skills to live alone, or securing paid work.