Continental Tyres Ireland has renewed its partnership with Blood Bikes Leinster for another year, continuing a relationship that has now supported the volunteer organisation for more than a decade. Blood Bikes Leinster provides a rapid-response transport service carrying blood, human donor breast milk, cancer treatment medication and other time-critical medical supplies between hospitals and medical centres. Operated entirely by volunteers, the not-for-profit organisation relies on public donations and corporate support to keep its vehicles on the road, while also helping to ensure ambulances and Garda vehicles remain available for frontline emergency duties.
The scale of the operation is impressive. Over the eleven years that Blood Bikes Leinster has worked with Continental Tyres Ireland, its volunteer drivers have covered more than 2.5 million kilometres without recording a single road incident. Regional Coordinator Fergus Lennon credits a combination of advanced driver training and properly maintained vehicles with helping the organisation achieve that record. Continental’s involvement includes supplying tyres for the fleet, with the latest renewal seeing two sets of AllSeasonContact 2 tyres provided for Blood Bikes Leinster support vehicles.
The organisation itself has changed considerably since the partnership began. While the Blood Bikes name remains, its original mixture of motorcycles and support vehicles has evolved into an entirely car and van-based fleet. According to Lennon, this reflects the increasingly sensitive nature of the material being transported, some of which can potentially be affected by the vibration associated with motorcycle transport. The organisation’s work has expanded to include transporting organs for transplant, including journeys to and from hospitals in the UK, where careful handling and strict delivery times are particularly important.
“The Blood Bikes Leinster team have clocked up more than 2.5 million kilometres over the eleven years of our partnership with Continental Tyres, and we are delighted to report that our volunteer drivers have not had even one incident on the roads of Ireland during all that time,” said Lennon. “It’s a testament to their advanced driver training and to the safety and reliability of Continental tyres on our vehicles. We are extremely grateful for Continental’s continued support, which plays a real role in helping us deliver our service safely every single day.”
Tom Dennigan, Head of Continental Tyres Ireland, also paid tribute to the volunteers behind the service. “Volunteers are the heartbeat of Blood Bikes. They give their time freely, often in challenging weather, to deliver a truly lifesaving service. We are proud to renew our support for Fergus and his team for another year, and pleased that our AllSeasonContact 2 tyres can help provide the reliability and performance they need on the road.”
As part of the renewed agreement, Continental will supply two sets of AllSeasonContact 2 tyres for the organisation’s support vehicles. Designed for year-round use, the tyre combines wet-weather grip, braking performance and stability with reduced rolling resistance. Those characteristics are particularly relevant to Blood Bikes Leinster, whose vehicles cover substantial distances throughout the year and must continue operating safely and reliably across the wide range of weather conditions encountered on Irish roads.
