Govia Thameslink Railway has announced that a number of abandoned bicycles on the Southern rail network have been donated to charity.

It is expected that the bikes will be used to help people learn new skills through refurbishing them.

The train operator has donated 75 bikes in total to Sussex Community Development Association (SCDA) to use as part of their Get Socially Active/Recycle community recycling project.

The team refurbishes the bikes with the support of volunteers and people wanting to gain work experience who live in Lewes, Newhaven, Peacehaven, Seaford and other towns.

Donated bikes are stripped down, cleaned and refurbished before being sold. All the money made is reinvested back into the project.

Before the bikes were donated to charity, the operator makes a huge effort to reunite the bikes with their rightful owners before the are removed and taken to the distribution centre in Horsham.

If a bike is suspected to be abandoned, it will be tagged with a message saying that the bike will be removed after two weeks.

If unclaimed, the bike will be removed. It will then be photographed and its details logged on a central system.

After a further six weeks, the bicycle condition will be assessed and nominated charities will be advised.

What did the officials say?

Jude Day, SCDA Employability Programme Manager, said:

“This is a great opportunity for Get Socially Active participants to refurbish these unwanted and unloved bikes. We are very grateful to Govia Thameslink Railway for donating the bikes and we look forward to welcoming more volunteers into the Recycle bike workshop to join the team in giving these unwanted bikes a new lease of life.”

Southern Customer Services Director Chris Fowler said:

“We’re delighted to support the communities we serve by making this donation. I’m really pleased that these otherwise unwanted bicycles will have such a positive impact on people’s lives, giving them confidence and new skills.”

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