150,000 more Fix Your Bike vouchers released to help get neglected bikes back on the road

The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced the release of a further 150,000 Fix Your Bike vouchers, which provide people in England with up to £50 towards the cost of getting neglected bikes back on the road.

Halfords, which has seen a surge in repairs as well as sales of bikes during the coronavirus crisis and is the biggest bike repairer participating in the scheme, has welcomed the news of the latest release and is providing a free 32-point bike check for anyone looking to have their bikes fixed.

Once a bike is booked in for checking, which you can do by following this link, Halfords’ mechanics will assess it for any repairs that may be needed.

The retailer says it can then either hold on to the bike once the customer has given the go-ahead to have the work carried out, or it can take a booking for the repairs to be done at a future date.

The Fix Your Bike voucher, which can be obtained by following this link and entering the necessary details, will be applied towards the cost of any eligible repairs needed to get the bike back on the road, up to a maximum of £50.

> Mechanic tells road.cc how Fix Your Bike scheme has slowed his workload as people wait for next wave of vouchers

Halfords says it has undertaken more than 300,000 free bike checks and performed more than 750,000 repairs or services on older bikes over the past year.

Paul Tomlinson, Cycling Director at Halfords, commented: “We have helped repair thousands of bikes through the Government’s ‘Fix Your Bike’ Voucher Scheme.

“This scheme means that many who might not be able to afford to get their bike fixed can now bring theirs back to a roadworthy condition and it looks like it’s happening against a backdrop of a huge increase in cycling – it’s fantastic to see that this demand looks set to stay – if not increase.

“Cycling brings so many benefits and as the country slowly starts to re-open, we are thrilled that more people are considering cycling more frequently than before,” he added.

Half of the 500,000 Fix Your Bike vouchers announced by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last year, at a cost of £25 million, have now been made available.

The phased release is aimed at avoiding overloading bike repair and servicing businesses participating in the scheme, which is operated on behalf of the DfT by the Energy Saving Trust.

However, the scheme has come under criticism from some repairers, with reports last year of delays in payment against vouchers submitted for work they had carried out, as well as the initiative resulting in a slowdown in business as people waited for the next batch of vouchers to be released before taking their bikes in.