THE roll-out of a bike share scheme in Bournemouth and Poole is to continue, despite a recent spate of vandalism.

In the past week, the tyres of two Beryl Bikes were slashed, while the saddles of two others were stolen.

However, BCP Council cabinet member for transport, Cllr Andy Hadley, said the scheme had been “incredibly popular” and they would continue to roll-out more bikes across the two towns.

The bike share scheme was launched in June after the council awarded Beryl a contract to oversee it.

Since then, dozens of bikes have brought to Bournemouth and Poole with more than 4,000 trips made on them.

However, several incidents of damage have been reported.

On Wednesday (July 31), the seat post and saddle of a bike was taken while it was parked at the Co-operative in Alder Road, according to Dorset Police

The following day the same damage was reported to a bike in Poole High Street.

And on Sunday the tyres of two bikes were slashed opposite McDonald’s in Alder Road.

Beryl chief executive, Phil Ellis, said: "While we’re sad to see the damage to these particular bikes, this is not a reflection of the very positive response we’ve had from the vast majority of people in Bournemouth and Poole.

“I’d like to thank everyone in the community who has taken the time to let us know about the damaged bikes as it helps our local operations team to get the bikes repaired and back on the street as soon as possible."

Cllr Hadley said the scheme had been well received with the bikes covering a distance of more than 7,000km in its first month.

He said the council would be working to prevent further vandalism while continuing to expand the scheme.

“Whilst Beryl is responsible for supplying the bikes as well as the management, maintenance and costs of the service, and the vast majority of users have been fantastic and have embraced the bikes for their day to day journey, we are disappointed to see that a small number of bikes have been vandalised,” he said.

“We have, however, seen good people out there standing fallen bikes up and reporting problems to the operator.

“We will work with the Beryl and the police to prevent further vandalism as the bikes continue to be rolled out over the summer.”