A recycling scheme that sees recovering drug addicts repair unusable rusty bikes donated by West Yorkshire Police has been declared a success.

The Bike Club was set up by the Bridge drugs charity a year ago at its Unity Recovery Centre in Manningham Lane, Bradford.

It involves recovering addicts restoring bikes that are then used by them to attend job interviews and appointments.

But the team have also done their bit for youngsters as they fixed up eight bikes and gave them to youngsters whose relatives are in recovery.

Colin Boyle, the recovery practitioner at Unity Recovery Centre, said that 30 clients had attended the bike club this year so far.

“Our group numbers average six to ten a week,” he said.

“We have a core group of lads coming every week and have fixed up and donated 30 bikes to people that had no means of transport so that they could get to appointments and meetings for their recovery, college or work.

“We also built eight children’s bikes that we gave away at the Unity Family Day to children of clients and carers.

“One touching story is that we gave a bike to a woman whose daughter is dependent on drugs, who has had custody of her grandson since he was two.

“She is elderly and has very little money and the boy, now eight, had never had a bike before.

“The group has swelled and is not just about fixing and keeping a bike. We work as a team, help and learn from each other. We have been on regular recovery activity bike rides in the summer.

“The lads got a real buzz from doing up and donating the kids bikes. It’s really great for them to feel they’re doing something worthwhile helping others.

“We now have a professional bike mechanic one day per week who has been teaching us the tricks of the trade and helping us learn new skills.

“We got the funding for him via Go Cycling which gets its money from Metro and its sustainable travel fund.”