THE DEFINITIVE TRUCKING SITE
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February 2010 |
The decision by t he British Royal Mail to decommission its fleet of 16 000 Pashley delivery bicycles is having a detrimental effect on a charity that reconditions unwanted bikes before shipping them to Africa.Bicycles are used by British postmen on over 16 000 routes and the service has been in operation for nearly 120 years. Historically, as bikes have completed their term of service, they have been donated to one of a number of charities for refurbishment. In 2009, Re-Cyle shipped almost 3 000 bikes to Ghana, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Kenya. However, of this number only 200 were former postman’s bikes compared to over 2 000 in previous years. The charity is expecting to receive a flood of bikes over the next two years as the Royal Mail fleet is broken up but it will then lose the regular supply of strong, reliable bikes so favoured by its African partners. A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “As urban areas wake up to the environmental, financial and health benefits of cycling, the Royal Mail is putting its people into thousands of diesel vans.” “The knock-on effect is that a valuable supply of bicycles for people in the developing world will dry up.” |
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