ADVER paperboy Sam Robinson has his freedom back after Swindon Cycles offered to replace his stolen bike free of charge.

Sam, 15, of Corsham Road, had his bike stolen just three weeks after he saved up the money to buy it, while he visited a friend’s house for a few minutes.

He was left with no way of attending his volunteer work or college courses, and his Penhill paper round was in jeopardy.

After hearing of the theft, a number of people, including Walcot Charity Shop, Swindon 105.5 and many kind-hearted residents offered their own bikes to help Sam out.

Graham Terrett, manager of Swindon Cycles, thought the shop could afford to donate a limited edition Team GB emblazoned mountain bike in order to help Sam commute around the town.

“We had a phone call the other day from someone telling us the story about how Sam had had his bike stolen,” said Graham. “We were very pleased to be in a position to help him.

“We like to get involved with the community and help them out as much as we can, so we thought we would get involved and donate a bike to Sam.

“It is just something we thought we were able to get involved with and we were happy to help.”

Sam’s mum Angie was overcome with emotion when she heard of the generosity of strangers, and wanted to thank everyone who came forward.

“We were hoping just for people to come forward with information about the stolen bike, but for so many people to come forward to offer Sam a new bike is just unbelievable,” she said.

“This gives him back his freedom. Now he can go see his friends whenever he wants and get to and from his media club, which he was not able to do before. He has been stuck at home a lot this week, so this will get him out of the house and give him that freedom for the rest of half term.

“Obviously this incident has affected his attitude as well. He has been quite put-out about what happened to the bike, so this is a lovely gesture.

“I really want to thank everybody who has got in touch and offered to donate their bikes, and a huge thank you to Graham of Swindon Cycles. It is a really beautiful bike and it is so generous of him.”

Sam was relieved to have a new set of wheels, but will continue to try to catch the person who stole the bike he saved for three months to buy.

“This is a really good bike, and now I am going to be able to do all the things I wasn’t able to do before,” he said.

“I didn’t think anyone was going to do anything about it to be honest. This is the last thing I was expecting.

”I am going to keep chasing up my old bike as well. I have seen it three times since it got stolen and we have told the police who we think has got it.

“I would like to say thank you to everyone who got in touch. It is really generous. “I am going to keep this one locked up all the time. ”