BIKES that are usually seized by police and auctioned off are now being passed onto a scheme to help people get active and improve their wellbeing.

Lancashire Police is supporting the Cycle Recycle scheme, which helps unemployed people attend workshops, renovate a bike and take it home for free.

The police are now donating bikes which were usually seized as evidence and sold on at auction, once they were no longer required as part of the evidential process or the legitimate owner could not be found.

Now the bikes will be reused in the scheme, run by Active Lancashire.

Ruth Adair, evidence related property manager at Lancashire Police, said: “These bikes will now be donated to Active Lancashire for use in the Cycle Recycle project instead. Its aims are to provide residents in some of the most deprived areas of Lancashire with a recycled bike to help encourage them to become active. The scheme hopes to provide those involved with further benefits, making them more mobile and getting better access to employment.”