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Brompton Bike Hire hopes to expand its support for the NHS with the launch of a new initiative aiming to deliver over 1,000 newly-manufactured Brompton bikes to key staff.
The Wheels for Heroes campaign sees Brompton Bike Hire launch a crowdfunder and commit production costs equating to an investment of up to £100,000.
With public and corporate support, the bikes will be produced at below cost price and loaned straight to healthcare workers via the Brompton Bike Hire network for as long as lockdown restrictions are in place.
In recent weeks, Brompton Bike Hire had already worked closely with St Barts Hospital, providing free bike loans to their front line staff. But with over 500 NHS already registered and more to come, Brompton says it simply doesn’t have enough bikes available in its hire fleet.
Parts of Brompton’s factory in West London will be repurposed from commercial bike manufacture to build these bikes for NHS workers. To reward those who help fund the bikes, various perks, from naming bikes and free bike hire will be available to those who can contribute what they are able to. Corporate packages will also be available for organisations keen to support NHS frontline workers.
Brompton Bike Hire plan for this to have a lasting impact beyond the current crisis. These bikes will always be allocated towards the health service and will continue to be used by the NHS for a nominal maintenance fee (£1 per hire) after the lockdown restrictions are lifted. Some of the fleet will also be donated to hospitals to use for graduate doctors and nurses.
Julian Scriven, managing director of Brompton Bike Hire, said: “The take-up of our initial offer of bikes to the NHS has been truly incredible and far beyond our expectations. It has been fantastic to be able to help in a small way and the feedback from the NHS staff has been unexpected and frankly heartwarming.
“We are calling on the Brompton community and on our wider community to get involved where they can. Any support, no matter how small (or large) will make a huge difference to us being able to support the NHS.”
