People trying to use the Santander hire bikes in Swansea claim loads of them are out of action

Not one of 14 Santander bikes parked up at a Swansea hire point was useable when a family were planning a ride, a resident has claimed.

Another woman experienced the same problem when she tried to use one of the hire bikes in the city.

Both claimed bikes appeared to have been vandalised or had components damaged or missing.

One reported the problems and was told there had been 'loads of reports from the area'.

But nextbike, which operates the cycles, denied there had been incidents of vandalism, and the issues were related to a transition to a new local maintenance team.

The bike hire scheme, run by a company called nextbike and launched by Swansea University , has multiple hubs throughout the city including in Mumbles , at the Civic Centre and outside the Waterfront Museum.

But some people trying to use them claim chains have snapped, brakes don't work and the electronic pads have been ripped off a number of the bikes.

Emma Davies, who tried to hire a bike from the hub at the Waterfront Museum, claimed: "They are all either vandalised or out of order, or in some cases both."

Some of the bikes have had parts "ripped off" (Jonathan Myers)

She claimed that when she tried to report the issues over the phone to the customer service number provided, she did not receive an answer.

"I managed to find another number to ring and report the faults and damage to the bikes," she added.

"They said they've had loads of reports from the area. Shame there's some people about who can't leave things alone for people to enjoy."

The bike hire scheme has multiple hubs throughout Swansea but some people wanting to use them have been left disappointed (Jonathan Myers)

One woman claimed that out of 14 bikes not one was suitable to hire outside the Waterfront Museum (Jonathan Myers)

Rhian Martin left a review on the Santander Cycles Facebook page, which stated: "We went to hire two bikes to cycle with our son.

"Outside the Civic Centre [there were] approximately six bikes, could only get one out. I walked to the Waterfront Museum [there were] approximately 14 bikes and couldn't even get one.

"Chains off them, brakes not working, electronic pads not working or been ripped off.

"Disappointed six-year-old who couldn't go on a bike ride with his parents."

Krysia Solheim, managing director of nextbike, said: "We are not currently experiencing incidents of vandalism in Swansea.

"On occasion, some bikes have been unavailable due to the fact that we are currently transitioning to a new local maintenance team and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience this has caused to our customers.

"Our new team will have an increased maintenance capacity to ensure Swansea's bike share scheme continues to keep the city moving."