On Wednesday June 19, Red Letter Christians UK, held an event “Redeeming Piccadilly” in Piccadilly Gardens. Activists, including Red Letter Christians founders Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo, gathered to proclaim ‘Love over Fear’ in what is one of the most criminalised spaces in the UK. As this is in our patrol area, Street Pastor volunteers were invited to come along and join in (read more about “Redeeming Piccadilly” here). Several from our projects and others in Greater Manchester were able to do so and their presence was much appreciated. 

However, there was an unintended spin-off… One of the team takes up the story:

Well – that was amazing!  ‘A street warden’ approached me, Kathy (MSSP) and Eva asking us to help a disabled man claiming the battery charger for his motorised wheelchair had been stolen. The man said he was from Chester and had been stuck in Manchester for the last 4 days. 

We used our phone to try and locate the mobility shop in Manchester but were unsuccessful. So we walked to the shop in the Arndale to see if they could help. Told them make and model of scooter….. “well, thank you very much – you’ve located our stolen scooter”.

Apparently the man with disability had gone to the same shop 4 days earlier saying he was from Chester and claiming his scooter was not working – they kept it and gave him one of theirs.

Meantime Manchester mobility speak to Chester mobility who report one of their scooters stolen – the exact one that man with disability swapped!!! Mobility Manchester thanked us and said they would organise police back up to retrieve the stolen scooter – which he did because we saw him shortly after in Piccadilly. 

(Not just Redeeming Piccadilly, but also Redeeming Stolen Scooters!!!)