Disability bike stolen from All Abilities Cycling Program returned
A STOLEN $12,000 bike used by people with disabilities has been returned to the All Abilities Cycling Program.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A special tandem bike for use by people with intellectual disabilities has been returned to Casey Fields, following a callous and “targeted” theft which saw more than $12,000 worth of goods stolen.
It comes after vandals torched play equipment at a Seaford school for kids with physical disabilities and complex health impairments, attracting public condemnation.
Every Wednesday, the no-cost All Abilities Cycling Program, which has been running for the past two years, is held at the Casey Fields Criterium Circuit.
PIPPA DEVINE RESCUES BROTHER NED FROM DROWNING IN LANGWARRIN DAM
HEARTLESS VANDALS TORCH NEPEAN SPECIAL SCHOOL PLAY EQUIPMENT
‘PEOPLE MAY HAVE NO CHOICE’: SPRINGVALE VIGILANTISM WARNING SOUNDED
The program allows people with intellectual disabilities, aged from their late teens to late 40s, to hop on a bike and ride freely around the track.
It’s the result of a partnership between the Southern Masters Cycling Club and disability organisations like Blairlogie, Wallara and Mawarra.
In early August, program co-ordinator Bill Upston was furious to discover a storage container protected by a lockbox at the Criterium Circuit had been broken into.
It’s believed the break-in occurred between August 5 and August 6.
A tandem bike designed to be accessible for people in wheelchairs and worth about $12,000 was taken, along with other bikes, club records, clothing, shelving and a toolkit.
Mr Upston took to Facebook to issue a plea for public assistance in locating the stolen items, particularly the tandem bike.
The post was shared widely, resulting in a good Samaritan locating the bike under shrubbery at a Clyde North shopping centre.
Other than the tandem bike and the club records, the rest of the stolen items are yet to be found.
Mr Upston said the thieves had “targeted” the Criterium Circuit, staking it out before breaking their way into the storage container.
“There’s just these people who don’t have any respect for other people’s property,” he said.
The “hardest thing” about the incident, Mr Upston said, was having to tell the program participants.
“There was a real disappointment from them,” he said. “All of them have been dealt crappy hands in life.”
Program participant Miranda Smith said she and her peers were glad to see their favourite bike returned.
“It was special to us when we rode around in it. And it makes it more fun. Everybody can use it in the group,” Ms Smith said. “And Bill makes it more fun for us.”
Blairlogie chief executive Carolyn Carr said the theft was “pretty disgusting” but it also highlighted just how important the All Abilities program was.
“Often people with a disability have very limited opportunity to make their own decisions,” Ms Carr said.
“Whereas here, they make the decisions and we go along with it. We do not realise the power of that freedom and that ability to make a decision.”
Volunteer Stuart Campbell agreed with Ms Carr that the program was about so much more than just riding around a bike track.
“The second time we had it here, one of the guys from Mawarra, he came past me and said, ‘Stuart, this is the best fun I’ve ever had’. You get a lump in your throat almost because you take it for granted.”
MORE NEWS
JAYDEN GEE-UNSWORTH JAILED AFTER HIGH-SPEED PURSUIT IN CARRUM DOWNS
HAMPTON PARK HELLS ANGEL JAILED FOR SHOOTING BROTHERS AT HALLAM HOTEL