ACT Director features on Radio 4 to discuss bike repair voucher scheme
Posted on in Business News , Cycles News
The 
Government's bike repair voucher scheme was the topic of a radio interview featuring the ACT's Director
Jonathan Harrison, the Association of Cycle Traders' Director and Head of Marketing, was one of the guests on yesterday's Radio 4 You and Yours show hosted by Winifred Robinson.
With more people having taken up cycling during lockdown, sales of new bikes have boomed along with a huge demand in England for the government's free £50 vouchers for repairs. The third batch of vouchers was released this month, with all 150,000 being snapped up within a few hours. There was a similar clamour for them when it started last year. The radio talk show invited Jonathan Harrison to discuss the reasons for this and the implications the scheme is having on both bike shops and customers.
The interview bought up topics such as the issues that customers experienced when attempting to get their hands on the vouchers, and when the DfT might be making the next release.
Jonathan Harrison said the following:
"The sector these days is facing challenges, in particular stock shortages, which is a knock on effect of COVID, while deliveries are being delayed by the unavailability of shipping containers. On top of that there's the Brexit challenges when it comes to imports and exports. It's hard to predict how long this unprecedented demand for cycling will last, which is the issue with releasing more vouchers".
The programme was broadcasted across the UK and has now been posted on the BBC website here for you to listen to the full interview (17.45 minutes in).