Charity cyclist and Halifax Rotary Club member Ken has to cancel epic fundraising ride because of UPS delivery fail

A dedicated fundraiser who has collected over £100,000 for charity has had to cancel his latest mission because of a delivery company failure.
Ken with his late wife Pauline who helped come up with the idea for the charity ride.Ken with his late wife Pauline who helped come up with the idea for the charity ride.
Ken with his late wife Pauline who helped come up with the idea for the charity ride.

Ken Robertshaw - a Halifax Rotarian and governor at Savile Park Primary School in Halifax - was supposed to be cycling an incredible 2,500 miles from Fort Kent, Maine to Key West, Florida, in aid of Theodora Children’s Charity.

He wanted to raise £10,000 which would have been spent providing comfort and laughter to children in hospitals thanks to the organisation’s professional performers, the Giggle Doctors.But Mr Robertshaw, from Queensbury, has been forced to abandon the ride at the last minute because his bike and other equipment was not delivered on time.

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“I’m bitterly disappointed because my favourite charity is losing out on a potential income stream,” he said. “I also feel embarrassed because I feel like I’m letting a lot of people down.”The ride was inspired by a trip Mr Robertshaw took to America with his wife Pauline, who died 18 months ago.

With help from Halifax Rotary Club, he spent hours planning the journey and had arranged to stay with or near fellow Rotarians along the way, speaking in schools and to youth groups about his trip.

“I had everything down to the last detail,” he said.

But Mr Robertshaw’s equipment did not arrive when delivery firm UPS had said it would and, despite frantic phone calls to the company, he had to concede that it would be coming too late to make all the stops he had so painstakingly scheduled.

He could not buy a new bike because he would not have time to get used to it enough to carry out the epic journey.

A spokeswoman for UPS said: “We have apologised to Mr Robertshaw for this error and any stress it has caused, and we have made a donation in Mr Robertshaw’s name to a charity of his choice.”

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