Halfords says it is gifting e-bikes worth up to £999 each to young people experiencing financial hardship.
Initially Halfords will be gifting Pendleton Somerby e-bikes, Carrera Crosscity e-bikes and Apollo Transport e-bikes to people aged 18-24 who do not currently have access to a car.
Twenty e-bikes will be gifted in total. Applicants should visit the Halfords website where they will be asked to complete a short questionnaire about their personal circumstances and how they plan to use their e-bike. The questionnaire can be found here.
People are asked to get their submissions in by 4 January and the 20 winners will be selected by 18 January 2021 and informed by 25 January 2021. Arrangements will then be made for these winners to collect an e-bike and accessories from their nearest Halfords store.
This sounds like a timely scheme with youth unemployment soaring since the start of the Covid pandemic as the youngest workers are over-represented in service industries like restaurants and travel struck hardest by business shutdowns and movement restrictions. According to the Resolution Foundation youth unemployment is on course to reach the highest levels since the early 1980s.
Victoria Pendleton is backing Halfords’ FREE-BIKE! initiative and will help Halfords complete the selection process.
She commented:
"We have all been having a really tough time due to this pandemic, but young people are also having to deal with a disastrous decline in the availability of jobs with unemployment rising massively. Having to avoid public transport does not help those searching to find work either, so it’s great that Halfords are offering these e-bikes to help young people get out to find work, making their travel easier and safer.”
Certainly e-bikes could prove an extremely useful tool in helping to get and keep a job; they are popular not only for commuting but also with many take-away delivery workers, as they prove economical as well as time and energy saving.
Halfords have seem a huge increase in e-bike sales during the pandemic as their sales of e-bikes and electric scooters tripled over the summer months. The boom doesn't appear to have let up yet either, as the company reported a 184% year on year rise in 'e-mobility' product sales for the six monthly period ending October 2nd.
