When a Korean tourist on a round-the-world trip had his scooter stolen in Manchester a local motorcycle dealer, bikers and the community stepped in to help.
Yung Gu Ro had visited 37 countries on his epic journey and clocked up more than 40,000 miles over the past 14 months, but his travels came to an end when his Honda PCX125 was stolen in Manchester.
Yung posted the news on his Instagram account last Friday before calling the Raceways bike shop in Fleetwood, where he had had his scooter serviced just the day before. His post read: “My trip seems to have ended in Manchester. Someone stole my bike.”
At Raceways, meanwhile, service manager Lee Hindle decided to help out. He rode to Manchester on his own bike, a Yamaha MT-09 Tracer, picked up Yung and took him out around Blackpool with wife Emma and some of their pals.They treated the grateful tourist to a slap-up meal and took him around the slot machines on the Golden Mile, before Lee took him back to Manchester.
Raceways supplied a replacement second-hand scooter at half its retail value.
The purchase became possible after a customer at the shop set up a Gofundme page. The crowdfunding page was set up by Nick Andrews, who describes himself as “an administrator for Motorcycle Crime Prevention Community”. Andrews said: “We are trying to help Yung Gu Ro, who has toured much of the world on his bike, only to arrive in the UK and have it stolen from Manchester, along with his belongings. It would be good to be able to replace his bike but just some of his stuff being replaced would be good. We want to show him that we are not all scum in the UK. Please give a little, every penny counts.”
The appeal raised £3535, exceeding the £3000 target in just five days.
Lee, 31, of Thornton, said: “He was such a lovely gentle guy, our heart went out to him and we wanted to show him that the British are good people.”
Picture shows Korean tourist Yung Gu Ro at Raceways bike shop in Fleetwood before he had this scooter stolen in Manchester. Picture Blackpool Gazette