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Perth's 'bike Santa' gives away 700 bicycles and pledges even more next year

Perth's bike Santa, Jeremy Devereux, is an exhausted man.

Speaking on Christmas Eve he said he was tired but delighted that he's managed to exceed his Christmas target.

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Perth man pays it forward

Perth man Jeremy Devereux restores bikes as his way of paying it forward to those in need

In the past month Jeremy has handed over nearly 80 bikes to families who otherwise would have had no Christmas presents for their children.

"One woman from Northam contacted me to say her husband was ill, there was no money around and her son spent his time at the BMX park borrowing other kids bikes because he didn't have one of his own," he said.

"So I got a bike ready and gave it to her and, for her family, that was Christmas saved. Her son will have a bike she could not afford to buy."

The 80 bikes given away in the month up to Christmas brought Jeremy's total for the year to 700, 100 more than last year.

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"I was actually hoping to give away 800 bikes this year but for some reason supply just dried up in the middle of the year. But then it started up again and I had plenty to repair and give away."

As more people get to know about Jeremy's charity work he has started to receive other gifts apart from bicycles.

"One lady who was coming to collect a bike told me one of her sons was crazy about Ferrari and the other was mad about Star Wars. 

"Well that was a bit of a coincidence because someone had just given me a huge Lego Ferrari racing car set and a couple of Star Wars lego sets - so they were handed over too."

The rest of the Jeremy's family have joined in the festive spirit and has started giving things away too.

"My son gave away a Playstation Two and hundreds of Simpsons and Futureama DVDs and my daughter gave away one of her teddy bears to go into the basket of a kid's bike."

Jeremy will be taking a break for Christmas Day and Boxing Day but will be back repairing and giving away bikes in January.

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