A heartbroken mum-of-two who pawned her late husband's racing bike during the Covid-19 pandemic was devastated to learn she can't get it back.
Karen Mottram, who had to pawn the bike because she had no money during the early part of the pandemic, only recently got together enough cash to buy back the vintage blue Faggin cycle after restarting work again.
But when she got in touch with Cash Converters, on London Road in Liverpool city centre, she was informed the bike had been sold.
The racer was the pride and joy of her husband Tony who died suddenly in 2014, aged 52, from an aggressive brain tumour.
Tony used his first wage packet to buy Faggin in Hamburg in 1981 by the keen cyclist, and holds huge sentimental value for his family.
But with money so stretched in 2020, pawning it for a six month period was her only option.
However, the expiry date passed and Cash Converters claimed they wrote to Mrs Mottram to inform her the bike would go up for general sale, but she says she never received any correspondence.
She is now desperate to get it back and is appealing for help.
The 53-year-old, from Orrell Park, said: "Tony cycled everywhere.
"Everyone knew him, everyone knew he was always on his bike.
"This bike is older than our children, it holds a lot of happy memories.
"He had other bikes come and go over the years but this one was part of him – this bike was him."
Cash Converters sold the bike last week, but were unable to tell Mrs Mottram who purchased it, or for how much.
The mum-of-two got £400 when she pawned it, on the understanding she would need to pay £650 to get it back.
She told the ECHO: " I am absolutely gutted and devastated.
"I won’t lie, I broke down and sobbed my heart out - it was like losing him all over again.
"This is the only thing I had that was a major part of him and while I still had the bike, I still had him so to speak.
"I will pay whatever it takes to have this back in our family.
"It has so much history."
Tony, a very fit cyclist, had no symptoms of a tumour until he collapsed in June 2014.
He received the results of a biopsy on his 52nd birthday and died 19 days later.
The Faggin bike has blue tyres and rims, and white or black handlebar tape.
Family man Tony was a survivor of the Hillsborough tragedy and had previously trained for a marathon bike challenge to raise money for cancer charities.
The Liverpool FC fan, who also attended Heysel, got in shape to complete a five-day London to Paris cycle race, in aid of Macmillan Cancer Research.
If you know what happened to Tony's bike please email luke.traynor@reachplc.com
