Cork volunteer with Blood Bike South has motorbike stolen

As a member of the bike community in Ireland, Mr Peeters said there has been a noticeable uptick in the number of motorcycle thefts around the country

The stolen bike is a red Honda Transalp which is distinguishable as it has a black windscreen on the front, a black box on the back, and aftermarket mirrors. The registration is 96-D-60393.

A man who works as a volunteer transporting medical essentials for hospitals via motorbike has had his stolen from his home in Cork.

Alfonso Peeters with Blood Bike South had his bike stolen from outside his home at around 2am on Tuesday. The stolen bike is a red Honda Transalp which is distinguishable as it has a black windscreen on the front, a black box on the back, and aftermarket mirrors. The registration is 96-D-60393.

Gardaí confirmed that they are investigating the theft of a motorcycle from a property at Knockraha in the early hours of Tuesday.

Without his personal motorbike, Mr Peeters said that his response time to calls is impacted.

"When I get a call at seven o'clock, for example, I need to get into town as quickly as possible and the bike allows me to filter through traffic and get to our depot quickly," he told 96FM's Opinion Line.

He added: "The bike value is not actually that high because it is a 96 but the value that I get from using that bike is a lot greater than the actual value of it."

As a member of the bike community in Ireland, Mr Peeters said there has been a noticeable uptick in motorcycle thefts around the country. Despite his bike being equipped with alarms and locks, this was not enough to deter the thieves.

Mr Peeters would usually have an AirTag on his motorbikes but only purchased this one a fortnight ago and had yet to attach one. 

Thankfully, footage has been obtained from neighbours which shows the culprits and also shows them checking people's car doors and trying to gain access. This footage has been passed on to investigating gardaí.

Scam

Mr Peeters also revealed that he has been targeted by a number of scammers since he posted appeals about the stolen bike on social media.

"On Facebook, they are basically searching for the words 'stolen bike' or whatever it may be and they are commenting on the post straight away saying 'oh you should contact this person or that person'. I have gotten about 100 of these at this stage," he explained.

"These tracking services will then get on to you and say that they can find the bike for you etc. Then, they say they need a unique code to be able to activate the tracking mechanism and they require €150 from you."

He described it as the lowest of the low to target people who have just become a victim of theft.

Blood Bike South

Mr Peeters became involved with Blood Bike South after suffering a stroke three years ago. He decided he wanted to give something back after his recovery and Blood Bike seemed like the perfect way to do so.

Blood Bike South is one of the charitable organisations in Ireland that provides motorcycle transport for medical materials on an out-of-hours basis for free.

The group aims to reduce the use of emergency vehicles and staff to transport the items as well as reduce the cost of transporting the materials for hospitals. Among the items transported by their volunteer bikers are blood, plasma, and breast milk.