Bike Hub baffled at continued break-ins
A charity that fixes up bikes and gives them away for free or a donation, can’t understand why people keep trying to break in.
On Monday, thieves or vandals – it was unclear which – cut the locks off the “surplus bike cage” at Bike Hub Nelson, which contained bikes yet to be repaired.
Just over a week before, someone broke a barred window at the facility’s main building at Saxton Field in Stoke, leaving the charity with a “huge mess” to clear up and a $400 repair bill, co-ordinator Rachael Gray said.
It was unclear if anything was taken in the latest incident, she said.
Bikes in the cage were “in desperate need of repair”.
“They’re the bikes that are not quick fixes … some are missing wheels, gears.”
The charity restores donated bikes and gives them away for free or for a donation to people who were struggling.
Gray could not understand why people kept targeting an organisation whose sole purpose was to serve the community, with 40 volunteers giving up their time every week.
“I don’t get it … it’s really sad.
“We don’t hold money on site. We have some chocolate biscuits … a very old fridge.”
She could only hope people didn’t know about the organisation they were targeting.
“If you come to our front door, we’ll happily help you out with a bike.
“We only ask for a donation and if donations are tricky, then we do give bikes away to people who can’t afford donations.”
Five months ago, the Bike Hub suffered $5,000 of damages and losses after thieves broke into its workshop, taking bikes and tools used to fix bikes.
There had been a number of break-ins and vandalism in the month leading up to that incident – and since.
Copper piping had been stolen from a service corridor in the building, making a mess and leaving the whole building without water “for quite some time”, Gray said.
There had been about five break-ins and attempted break-ins at the bike cage since February, she said.
The Bike Hub had now enclosed the bike cage, which had comprised “basically just hurricane wire”, she said.
“We didn’t really want to have to close it in because it creates issues with lighting, you can’t see anything and then you have to … get an electrician and pay for that sort of stuff.
“But in the end we had to, because we were down there so often trying to fix up the wire and add more wire; it got a bit frustrating.
“All we could really find was that people would take a part of a bike. We know that a wheel went missing.”
Freeman Roofing provided the corrugated iron to enclose the cage free of charge, and alarms were provided by Nelson Alarms in the main building.
Gray said the police were following up on images of people captured on cameras at the Bike Hub during the recent break-in and attempted break-in.
By Katy Jones, Nelson Mail
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