One problem of leaving your motorbike at Orly airport, Paris, has been eradicated since last November. At the west terminal parking lot "0", bikers can now leave their helmets in specialised automatic helmet lockers, designed by the French start-up, Mains Lib' (Hands Free in English), thus reducing their baggage problem.
As François Jaubert, the founder, explains, all you need to do is leave your helmet in an empty locker, choose a four-digit code, and that’s it, your helmet is secure.
Provided as a free service to passengers, Paris Airports (the airport authority Aéroports de Paris) pays Mains Lib' 300 euros a month rent for each locker terminal. Forty already exist in a number of Paris shopping malls and cinemas. Orly airport is the first in the world to have installed the system, for two categories of passengers in particular: business, and those off for the weekend.
According to the company, as yet, no helmets have been reported stolen or missing. The facility has also been installed at Roissy, the other major Paris airport, and Mains Lib' has every intention of extending throughout Europe soon.
