Cycle to Work Benefit Scheme - Pros and Cons of Different Programmes

I'm not sure what Oliver had in mind

Pretty much what you listed--that employees would buy things not allowed under the scheme.

Interestingly, the rules do allow the purchase of two bikes (bet not many people knew that) in certain circumstances. The majority of the use of the bike must be for commuting, but where an employee cycles from home to a railway station, leaves his/her bike locked there, then cycles from the other end of his rail commute to the office, he/she can have a bike for each leg of the journey.

I didn't know that, either. That's great and shows that the scheme is thought through properly (in most areas, anyway)!