A bike courier has praised his hometown in Buckinghamshire for support after he was left paying for a road accident. 

Alex Paul, a full-time bike courier for the delivery company Deliveroo in Chesham, was left in a void without income after a motorbike rider hit him from behind in July, wrecking his bike and leaving the scene without stopping.  

Now the 30-year-old courier wants to thank everyone in Chesham, who rushed to his help.

Mr Paul said: “I had a call from the police, and they said turns out the suspect had sold the bike, so they were asking for additional physical evidence of the accident occurring or any details above what I had already given.

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“It was few months ago now, so it was difficult to provide more what I had already given.

“They said because of that they can’t really follow up further.

“It’s a shame because they could have checked the history of who they had sold the bike to.

“But I think what they’re trying to tell me is they have bigger things to deal with, and I’m not going to pester them and put this bike incident above bigger issues they have to deal with. I’m going to leave it at that and they are going to end the investigation.

“I told them about the rugby team that had raised £150 towards my bike repairs, and the police seemed really impressed by that!”

Although he was left without compensation from the motorcyclist, the courier feels it was a “positive outcome”.

The response from Chesham residents was “incredible,” he said.

“I was not expecting such a big response from the community over this incident.

“Everyone was providing evidence, and they were saying ‘I know this person, they are my neighbour’ or ‘I’ve seen this person drive all over town’.

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“People were submitting their doorbell camera footage, and someone had actually switched on their surveillance camera immediately after the incident.

“It was incredible to see everyone coming together on the side of helping me just to find out who have done it and why they drove off without providing his details." 

As Mr Paul clocks hundreds of miles each week, he feels reassured that if anything happens while out, the community is there for him.

Out of the blue, his rugby club, a touch rugby team called Princes Holes at Stags rugby in Chesham, hatched a secret plan to help pay for his bike repairs.

“I was kicked out of the [WhatsApp] group, and I thought it was because the season had ended. A few days later I was invited me back into the WhatsApp group, and then they announced they had set up a fundraising and managed to raise £150 towards the bike repairs.

“I didn’t know how to take it!

“It’s too much generosity, and completely I wasn’t expecting this to happen.

“I feel a little bit guilty, because I haven’t received this much money before, and I felt bad accepting it.”

He’s looking to organise a social gathering at the local craft beer brewery Trekkers to thank the team.