Keen cyclist Mark Smith advertised a £500 reward for his stolen bike on Facebook Marketplace and was delighted to receive tip-offs from the online cycling community as to where his bike had been spotted.

Mark, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, was gutted to find his Birdy Rohloff bike had disappeared after he parked it securely outside a shop. The bike was already registered on BikeRegister and with a heavy heart, Mark logged into his account to change the status to ‘stolen’.

“There was a moment of complete disbelief and then I felt really angry,” he said. “I put up reward notices and got several tip-offs. Once I got my first lead on where the bike had gone, to I really had the bit between my teeth. I had five informants in total. Of these, three refused to take a reward. It's lovely to know that there are such thoughtful people out there.”

Mark continued: “The police told me that I needed to find out the man's address for them to be able to get a warrant. I alerted the police to the address; they got a warrant and raided the building where the bike had been spotted. They found it in the garden.

“It was a great moment when PC Rhys Davies of Gloucestershire Police rang me to tell me he had the bike and was bringing it over. I've been out on several great rides on it in the last week!”

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

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