A disabled delivery rider has been left ‘devastated’ after his specially adapted motorbike was stolen and trashed in Bristol overnight.
Now friends and colleagues of paraplegic David Cappalletti have started a fundraising page to pay for a new bike, which is believed to be unique in this country, as well as supporting him until he is back on the road and working again.
David uses a motorised wheelchair to get about and his one-off three-wheeler scooter has been specially adapted to take that wheelchair, as well as the other modifications needed to be a delivery rider. But the bike was stolen from his home near Eastville Park last night, and found this morning, smashed up on the Bristol-Bath Railway Path near the tunnel at Staple Hill.
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David, who works full time for delivery firms including Deliveroo and UberEats, got the specially-adapted bike from a firm in London and then had it modified again to enable him to work full-time as a delivery rider around Bristol.
His friend and colleague Felippe Chagas said David was ‘devastated’ at what has happened, but encouraged by the support already coming in from fellow delivery riders in Bristol.
The fundraising page has already attracted donations of £800 in just a couple of hours today, Friday, March 11, and the target is to raise £5,000. “He is desperate because it’s his livelihood - it’s how he works and gets around. Without it, he can’t work,” said Felippe.
“It was taken from his home near Eastville Park and he alerted everyone, all the other riders, and it didn’t take long to find it - someone was walking their dog very early this morning, I think, and came across it on the railway path,” he added.
“It’s very badly damaged, almost certainly beyond repair. He is devastated and all of us are desperate to get him back on the road and working again as soon as possible.
“The bike was unique. Not only was it custom-built for him as a wheelchair user, it was also adapted to allow him to work as a delivery rider, so it had space for his delivery pack, it had a ramp to get his wheelchair on and off so he could quickly do the deliveries and it had the kind of stuff that all us delivery riders have, like the mufflers and the charging points and so on,” he added.
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The fundraiser is for £5,000, and Felippe is appealing to everyone in Bristol to help his friend. “We think that the bike on its own will cost £3,000, but then there’s all the other modifications that will be needed to it too. There’s a garage in London that specialises in bikes for wheelchair users, and they modified his existing bike. On top of that, this now means David cannot work while he has no bike, so the money will also help him while he’s off the road,” he added.
Felippe said David is well-known as the only wheelchair delivery rider in Bristol.
“David is a lovely human being, disabled, and is very well known in Bristol for his hard work doing his deliveries, for which he uses his custom made mobility scooter,” he said.
“Restaurants, riders and all Bristolians who know him are angry and upset that David has not only lost his means of getting about and his independence, but also his means of work and his way of earning income. We are now humbly, asking for your help for together put David back to work,” he added.
Visit the appeal page here
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