A valuable mountain bike which was stolen from a busy street in central London has been quickly reunited with its owner after its details were recorded on BikeRegister.com

The stolen bike was a red, silver and black Giant Defiance mountain bike worth £800, which had been securely locked to a cycle stand in Shaftesbury Avenue by owner Dan Spalding.
When he returned to collect the bike some time later, it had disappeared.

Dan, a marketing manager for Lloyds TSB, cycles to work several times a week and was upset by the loss. He explained: “I was shocked to find my bike missing and honestly never thought I would see it again. After a couple of days, I reluctantly decided to try and replace it, so I started trawling through bikes posted on classified ad websites such as Gumtree.”

Dan continued: “To my surprise, I spotted a picture of a bike that looked exactly like my own Giant bike and I arranged to meet the so-called ‘seller’. I contacted the Police and plain clothes officers from British Transport Police were present during this meeting and the ‘seller’ was arrested on suspicion of handling stolen goods.”

Dan was able to use the Logbook issued when he registered on BikeRegister.com to prove to the Police that the frame number and CYC serial number on his bike matched the stolen one.

Dan concluded: “I would advise all cycle owners to firstly get their bike marked using a BikeRegister marking kit and then secondly complete the simple task of registering their bike on the BikeRegister.com database.

“Without the quick and easy service that BikeRegister provided, I would not have been able to prove that the bike belonged to me and the thief would have been able to sell my bike to an unsuspecting third party. I am genuinely thrilled to be reunited with my bike and credit BikeRegister entirely with making that possible.”

For further press information and images contact: Angela Singleton, Press Officer for Selectamark. Mobile: 07905 623 819 Email: [email protected]

For further information and images contact: Jodie Fisher, Marketing Executive for Selectamark.

Phone: +44 (0)1689 487829
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @bikeregister