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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Ramazani Mwamba

Stolen bikes left languishing in police stations around Salford have now been put to very good use

Students have been treated to early Christmas presents after being gifted bikes by Greater Manchester Police.

Thanks to a conversation between a police officer and teacher at the Co-op Academy Walkden, 17 bikes seized or found by police have been gifted to the school.

The original owners of the stolen bikes could not be found and they have been stored in police stations around Salford, but they have now found their way to the high school.

Sergeant Mark Livesey said: "It has been a pleasure for not only the Walkden South neighbourhood team, but the Salford division as a whole to support this inspiring Walkden High bike initiative.

"It was during a passing conversation I had with a member of staff one morning outside the school entrance that they mentioned the plans for the initiative and how they hoped to source some bikes to get the scheme running.

From left to right Ellen Holmes (Cycling UK), Matt Hacker (Co-op Academy) , PCSO Paul Dickin, Sgt Mark Livesey, Joshua Mangas (Co-op Academy) and Claire Lee (TfGM) (Manchester Evening News)

"As we have quite a number of bikes in storage around Salford police stations which had been seized or found with the owners not being traced, we were given permission from the Salford senior officers to donate a number of bikes to this worthy cause.

"We hope to continue working closely with the school and support this initiative in any way we can."

Many of the bikes have been left in a state of disrepair and staff along with students will be trained on how to fix them.

Once they are fixed and ready to ride, a library style system will be created for students to use the bikes to travel to and from the academy for a short period of time.

Kids will also be able to exchange their old bicycles with the new ones from the library and the academy hope to grow a large cycling hub that will encourage more pupils to ride to school.

Staff and students will learn how to fix the bikes (Manchester Evening News)

Joshua Mangas, director of participation and engagement at the Co-op Academy Walkden said: "This scheme will help us level the playing field.

"We can now help children that struggle to come to school because they live far away.

"It will give the kids something positive to do and when the library is up and running it will be something for them to be proud of too.

"We are delighted to have received these bikes which will help students get to our academy.

"We are working with Cycling UK and Transport for Greater Manchester to establish a community cycling hub with a view to setting up a bicycle library where children can borrow bikes on a temporary basis."

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