A dad has praised Barrhead’s community spirit after his son’s stolen and wrecked bike was recovered and restored thanks to the kindness of others.

Daniel Ferry’s prized possession, which he received as a Christmas present last year, was nicked from St John’s Primary’s playground after he forgot he had cycled to school and left it behind.

The 11-year-old’s mum Louise Hunter then posted what had happened on a local group on Facebook, which led to the bike quickly being found and handed into the school.

Daniel’s dad, Martin Ferry, told the Barrhead News: “It was the next day we realised so he went down but it was away and the janitor said there had been boys hanging about that night around the school, older boys.

“My wife said she was going to put it on the Barrhead Divas page [on Facebook] and lo and behold we got a phone call from the school about 2pm to say Daniel’s bike had been handed in.

“One of the cleaners had seen the post and dragged it from the back of the sports centre to St John’s. She had to drag it because the wheels were buckled and flat.

“It was really nice of her and Daniel gave her a box of chocolates and a thank you card the next day.

“It just goes to show the power of these [online] forums. One woman was messaging Louise to say she had sent her sons out on their bikes to go and look for it.

“We were quite overwhelmed by the support from people to get the bike back.”

Unfortunately, however, as well as buckled wheels, the bike’s handlebars had also been bent and its brakes were knackered.

Martin took it straight up to Include Me 2 Club’s Bike Hub, based at the charity’s hub at Cowan Park to see if they could repair it.

It was in such a sorry state that those there questioned if the bike had been run over.

The Barrhead dad was then shocked to receive a phone call the next afternoon to say the bike was already ready.

Not only that but the skilled volunteers told Martin they had decided to fix it up for free.

“I said do you accept cards and they said 'look it’s such a rubbish thing to do, we have all spoken about it and we thought we’d get Daniel’s bike back to him for nothing',” explained Martin.

“We couldn’t believe it and we couldn’t thank them enough.

“We gave them a good donation because it’s important to keep the funding going for it.

“It’s as good as new. They did a great job and even cleaned it.”

Daniel is delighted to have the bike back so he can travel to school and visit his friends.

Despite the disappointment of the damage to the bike, Martin’s overriding takeaway from the episode is that its positive outcome shows “there are good people out there who will do nice things.”

Steven Rutherford, the Bike Hub’s manager, said: “We could clearly see that vandals had taken the bike and decided to break it with the rear wheel smashed up, handlebars bent out of shape and many other bits of damage.

“We made the decision to work our magic and make his bike brilliant again.

“Within one day we had this back to A1 working condition, replacing the rear wheel and parts needed.

“We did this at zero cost to Daniel and his family as we felt this was unfair that vandals had tried to break his pride and joy.

“We are very grateful to Daniel’s family as they have made a very generous donation back to ourselves which allows us to carry out more great work for others in the community.”