Generous people have donated nearly £1,000 to help a Hackney frontline nurse replace the bike which was stolen while she battled coronavirus.

Sam Follett had worked a 12-hour night shift in the intensive care unit (ICU) at St Bartholomew’s Hospital when she discovered her £850 bike had been stolen.

The Australian clinical nurse specialist in the Critical Care Outreach team, who has been living in London for six years, only had clip-in cycling shoes to get home and was forced to borrow a male colleague’s footwear for the Tube.

READ MORE: ‘The government let down my dad’: NHS nurse’s son asks why he was never tested or given hospital treatment after catching fatal coronavirusHer friends Brittany Catton and Caitlin Brown set up a fundraiser to replace the bike, which Sam is still paying for in her wages through the NHS’s Cycle To Work Scheme.

However, the fundraiser gained traction and has now racked up £935 for the cause.

Having covered the cost of a replacement bike, Sam has not yet decided to which charity she will donate the extra money.

“I used to ride a bike in Australia for exercise and I thought it would be a good way to keep fit and not use public transport,” Sam told the Gazette.

“It’s annoying anytime, but especially in this pandemic when we are working to keep everyone safe - it wasn’t a great feeling.

“Initially when Brittany asked if she could do it, I was unsure because I get overwhelmed by generosity.

“But when people I haven’t met are donating, it is restoring your faith in humanity. It is lovely.”

Sam and Brittany, who is from Canada, first met while travelling in Barcelona and reconnected when they both moved to Hackney.

Brittany told this newspaper: “It was such a nightmare for Sam. I thought we would have to work quite hard to raise that much money, but I was in the mentality that every little bit helps.

“The response has been so much and people we don’t even know were donating. I think everyone was empathising with the fact that she is an NHS worker.”

This comes after a Royal Free Hospital nurse had her bike stolen when she popped into Waitrose on Holloway Road in April.Beata Tkaczyk had only owned the bike a week before it was taken. Donate to Sam’s fundraiser at https://www.gofundme.com/f/nhs-nurse-bike-stolen-while-working-nights-in-icu