All Forth Valley key workers offered free roadside bike repairs

Forth Environment Link (FEL) launched The Bike Medic initiative at the end of September to support and encourage key workers to keep on cycling to work during the coronavirus pandemic, especially during the cold and wet winter months.

The charity’s free call-out service was initially open to NHS staff, but is now available to all key workers across the Forth Valley health board region.

Run in a similar way to car breakdown recovery, bikes are repaired at the roadside for free or taken away to be fixed.

Onward travel is also covered, so if a bike can’t be easily fixed, key workers will be offered a courtesy bike to allow them to finish their journey or will be given a lift.

Dr Raj Burgul, a consultant radiologist at Forth Valley Royal Hospital, said: “I was cycling down a quiet country lane in the pitch dark when I got a double puncture!

“I didn’t have a back-up plan… until I remembered about The Bike Medic. I’m so thankful for this prompt rescue service.

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“I was safely taken home in the comfort of their electric van. In these stressful times this scheme gives us hospital staff confidence and security to keep on cycling, especially through the dark winter months.”

More than 60 health professionals are currently borrowing electric and regular bikes from FEL’s Active Travel Hubs in Stirling and Falkirk.

A further 300 cycles are available to all key workers for free through the charity’s public bike share schemes,Forth Bike and NextBike Stirling.

FEL was initially inspired to provide cycling support to the NHS Forth Valley staff by a local nurse who approached one of the charity’s active travel hubs at the beginning of lockdown for help fixing her bike.

The Bike Medic service can be contacted for free on 03333 208635 between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday. General enquiries about the service can also be emailed to bikemedic@forthenvironmentlink.org.

The scheme is funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Paths for All’s Smarter Choices, Smarter Places Open Fund.

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