| Whatever type of bike you have, it is essential
to keep it secure. Almost 400,000 bicycles are stolen every year
in England and Wales however following a few simple steps and a
small investment in the right type of lock could help you minimise
the risk of yours being one of them.
Checklist:
- Always lock your bike if leaving it unattended
- Choose a place to lock your bike where there are lots of
people and a high level of natural surveillance
- Invest in an adequate lock. D-shaped are usually the best
- Consider registering your bike through an approved scheme
- Add your bike to your home contents insurance
- Locking both wheel and frame will make your bike more secure
- Apart from locking the frame, make sure that any quick release
and detachable items such as wheels, saddles and lights are
either secured or removed and taken with you
Security at home
Over half of all bicycle thefts take place on the owner’s property, including
thefts from garages, sheds and gardens.
Make sure the place you keep your bike is secure, and consider installing
a steel loop or other fixed anchor point to a wall for locking your bike. If
this isn't possible, try to keep your bike out of sight (even if it's inside
the house or flat) so as not to attract the opportunist thief.
Insurance
It is a good idea to insure your bike. An easy way to do this is to extend
your home contents insurance to cover your bicycle but make sure it covers
you for thefts outside the home too. If your bicycle is particularly valuable,
you may need to insure it separately and the insurer may require you to use
certain specified levels of security.
Some insurers will offer a discount for using an approved security marking
and registration scheme – check the requirements and see if your local bike
shop can help you provide it.
Choosing a Bike Lock
A variety of locks are available the most popular being:
- Chain & padlock combination (cheap and flexible)
- Cable locks (useful for securing parts of the bike such as the saddle)
- Solid metal D-locks.
- D-locks generally offer the highest level of security, but any lock will
help to deter a would be thief.
There is a government-backed system to test and grade cycle locks and indeed
any security product www.soldsecure.co.uk,
products are graded as being Gold, Silver or Bronze with Gold being the securest.
Try and ensure when buy a lock that it has a soldsecure classification.
Security Marking and Registration
Each year in Manchester alone hundreds of bikes are recovered by or handed in
to the police. It is not know if the owners of these bikes were victims
of crime, as more often than not we don’t know who they are!
By registering your bike with one of the many registrations schemes available
there is a good chance that should it go missing you will get it back.
www.immobilise.com is a free police
national cycle registration database.
www.bikeregister.com call:
01689 862708 offers a variety of affordable registration schemes which
also include tamper proof stickers a cycle marking pack and a transferable
ownership log book.
Alternatively you can ask your local police station if they can post
code your bike (some will have the equipment, you will have to mark
your own frame), keep photographs and a record of the frame number
all of which could help the police identify and recover your bike if
it is stolen.
Most bike shops should also be able to advise you on security products
and registration schemes available and larger outlets will offer micro
chipping, security marking and database registration in-house.
Did you know?
- Approximately 1/4 of all bikes stolen are left unsecured
- Each police division in Manchester recoups 2 to 3 unregistered/marked
bikes each week – they cannot return these bikes as they don’t know
who’s they are!
- Most bikes stolen from the home are taken from the garden during
the summer months
- Bike theft is at it’s highest during week days
- Cycle usage continues to grow, between 2002 and 2004 weekly figures
showed a growth rate of 12%
Get On Your Bike
Manchester City Council has 606 cycle parking spaces/stands in the City Centre
alone - for further information and a map of sites call the Traffic Section on
0161 455 2232
Since 2003 Manchester now developed a further 35km of cycle routes throughout
the city and beyond, for details of these, maps and cycle event news call the
National Bike Week Team on 0161 234 3562
The government now has a national cycling forum and strategy
www.nationalcyclingstrategy.org.uk
If your bike is stolen report it immediately! You can call or drop into your
local Police Station, call Crimestoppers 0800 555 111 or in an emergency call
999.
If you suspect someone in your area is trading stolen bikes call Crimestoppers
on 0800 555 111 or contact your local Trading Standards Office. |
