My first run as a “blood biker”
I came across SERV Surrey and South London shortly after passing my full category A licence in 2014. Speaking with many people over the last 6 months it seems there is a low level of awareness of the vital service this group (and many others around the country) provide and now I’ve completed my first officical shift I thought it was a good time to share my story.
Blood bikers are a group of people who use both bikes and cars to transport blood, plasma, platelets, samples, and other urgent items for hospitals — every night from 7pm to 6am, and 24 hours a day over bank holidays — all completely free of charge.
If you want to know more watch this excellent video from National Geographic
I got involved in blood biking as I wanted to give something back to the NHS which provides us all a vital service 24 hours a day 7 days a week and it didn’t feel right to me that hospitals either needed to take an ambulance out of service or use expensive local taxi’s when they needed urgent supplies or samples needed testing at a specialist centre. This was the perfect opportunity for me to use my passion for riding with getting involved in something which benefits society as a whole.
The night of the 24th March 2018 was my first official shift, I’d had my induction, had the standard of my riding assessed and had taken part in a site familiarisation ride so I knew how to get to some of the locations covered by SERV S&SL. Now it was time to do it for real.
I spent the Saturday morning checking my bike over, giving it a good clean and removing my topbox which would get in the way of carrying a blood box. I also fitted a sign on the front to give some visibility when I was riding in the hope it would encourage other road users to give me space to get through traffic quickly.
I called the controller at 18:38 to confirm I was ready for my shift and that I was using a bike which was 1 box capable, he confirmed and asked me to sit and wait and he’d give me a call when I was needed, I must have checked my phone every 5 minutes for the next hour to see if I’d missed any calls, I was nervous for when that first call was going to come.
I didn’t need to wait long, at 19:55 I received the call I was waiting for and asked to pick up some platelets from NBS Tooting which would be ready for 9pm and take them to Kings College Hospital (Denmark Hill). I accepted the run and I could feel the adreneline start pumping as I was getting ready, checking that I had everything I needed.
- ID Card — Check
- Rokstraps — Check
- POD Book — Check
- Pen — Check
- Sat Nav — Check
I must have checked I had everything at least 20 times before I left the house just after 20:25 arriving at NBS Tooting at 20:50.
I collected the platelets and for the first time had to figure out the best way to secure them to my bike using the rokstraps, it took a few minutes to work out how to secure it in a way that I was comfortable with and off I went, putting faith in my Garmin Zumo to get me as quickly as possible to my destination.
It was about a 30 minute ride to Kings College and I must have checked the box was still on the back every 2 minutes, every time I stopped in front of a shop window or at traffic lights I had to check again, it’s not easy knowing you are being trusted to carry something so important.
I arrived at 21.35 and delivered at 21:39 and that was that, my first run as an official blood biker was complete and in my own small way made a difference.
Finally it was time to head home, arriving just after 22:20, I put the kettle on and started the nervous wait by the phone all over again, knowing I could get a call at anytime.
I hope you found this post interesting, I’ll be sharing more stories as I continue on my journey and if you want to get involved and you live in Surry or South London get in contact with SERV S&SL or find your nearest group via the National Association of Blood Bikes.
