BCF celebrates Gold Cycle Friendly Employer Award at 2022 Charity Cycle

The British Coatings Federation (BCF) has unveiled its new Cycling UK Cycle Friendly Employer Award. The BCF has achieved Gold Award status, the highest accreditation level of the award. The Cycling Friendly Employer accreditation is an internationally recognised benchmark for active travel culture and infrastructure in the workplace. To achieve the gold award, the BCF went through a rigorous auditing process to demonstrate a long-term commitment to promoting a cycle-friendly culture, with the required infrastructure and supporting policies in place.

The plaque displaying the award was unveiled at the commencement of the 2022 Charity Cycle by Russell Stephens, Head of Commercial at Cycling UK. He commented: ‘We’re absolutely delighted to be able to award gold accreditation to the BCF. By taking part in the Cycle Friendly Employer accreditation, the BCF has clearly demonstrated its commitment to encouraging and supporting cycling in the workplace.’

Image: BCF CEO Tom Bowtell being presented with Cycle Friendly Employer Award with Russell Stephens of Cycling UK and Martin Fagan of Community Heartbeat Trust at the commencement of BCF Charity Cycle.

Tom Bowtell, BCF’s Chief Executive Officer, said of the award: ‘We are incredibly pleased to have achieved the Gold Award as a Cycle Friendly Employer from Cycling UK. Cycling has great benefits for both physical and mental health, the environment and much more. BCF are proud to support our team in getting involved with rides and bike maintenance to help influence the shift to more people cycling in the UK. We hope that through our Charity Cycle we can extend this to our wider community and raise money for a fantastic cause.’

BCF hosted their second charity bike ride for the UK coatings industry to raise money for charity partner Community Heartbeat Trust, who, along with the generosity of BCF’s decorative paints members, transform unused telephone boxes into life-saving defibrillator stations in rural locations across the UK through the Minutes Matter campaign.

The routes of BCF’s Charity Cycle: Ride Warwickshire started at the BCF office in Coventry and travelled through the scenic countryside and villages of Warwickshire. 40 riders took part in one of three distances: 30km, 50km or 100km.

Image: Riders cycling through Warwickshire countryside on BCF Charity Cycle

Through the support of BCF members, riders and the wider community, the event has managed to raise over £11,000 for the Community Heartbeat Trust. BCF would like to thank everyone who has taken part in the 2022 Charity Cycle and donated. If you would still like to donate, you can do so at our JustGiving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/RideWarwickshire2022.

A special thanks to our sponsors: AkzoNobel Decorative Paints, INX International UK, Teknos UK, Tronox Pigments UK, U-POL, BioCote and ASFP whose support of our Charity Cycle Ride is invaluable.