Van thefts - two charged

Charity’s appeal results in vehicles being spotted

Two men have appeared in court in connection with the theft of two vans from the Recyke-a-bike charity.

The pair, aged 20 and 21, were allegedly snared after leaving the stolen vehicles in private parking spaces. Police in Stirling were then contacted after the vans were recognised following an online appeal for their return.

The men, both of whom are from the Glasgow area, appeared in the dock at Stirling Sheriff Court on Friday morning.

The Observer reported last week that the charity was raided early on Wednesday March 29, and laptops and £950 cash taken from the Alloa Road base.

A second break-in occurred at around 8am on Monday April 3 when one of the vans was stolen from the charity’s locked yard. And a second van, which had been significantly damaged in the original break-in, was taken from another address off-site between 7.30am and 4.50pm.

The thefts forced the charity to cancel a scheduled trip to Shetland.

Recyke-a-bike chief executive Angela Barron said: “The community has been very supportive and helpful. We put a post on Facebook asking people to look out for the vans and the response has been great. It has been shared as far away as India. We really appreciate the support from the community.

“The goodwill from our local community has been nothing short of amazing and makes a huge difference to all the team here.

“We will still have challenges to face as we deal with the repercussions of these crimes but at least we can get started soon.”

Recyke-a-bike is a community interest project that aims to help more people into work and get more people in the community cycling.

It provides training and work placements at its bicycle recycling centre where unwanted bikes are reconditioned to REVOLVE-accredited standard for resale.

It also provide a variety of outreach services from Bikeability training in schools to Dr Bike and cycle commuting skills.