BIKERS transporting vital blood supplies to hospitals around the county have been given a much-needed cash boost.

Volunteer motorcyclists, who spend their nights helping to deliver supplies from London to the QE2 Hospital in WGC, and the Lister in Stevenage, have been given �1,363 from a county council fund to help pay for high visibility jackets to keep them safer on the roads.

The Service by Emergency Rider Volunteers (SERV), which was formed last year, also received a �150 donation from the Waggoners Square Dance Club, which collected library book fines over the last year to donate to the charity.

Jim and Molly Shelley, the Hertingfordbury-based club’s library organisers, popped down to the WGC hospital to hand over the cash.

Bloodrunners, as they are known, use their own motorbikes and pay for their own fuel and expenses to speed emergency blood from the National Blood Bank in London to hospitals which need supplies.

The service is free and the volunteers answer hundreds of calls a year relying on charitable funds and donations to cover their costs.

Haldens councillor Sara Johnston, who dipped into a fund set up by the county council to support worthwhile community projects, said: “I am delighted to be able to help this organisation which transports blood supplies around the county every night between 7pm and 6am free of charge.

“Not only do they not charge for their time, they even pay for their own petrol and the tax and insurance for their bikes.

“This saves the NHS a great deal of money and ensures that the blood products get where they are needed safely and quickly.”

For more information see www.serv.org.uk