A stolen silver Raleigh Collette bike has been recovered and traced back to its owner thanks to an eagle-eyed member of the public and BikeRegister.

This latest recovery - and many others attributed to BikeRegister - gives hope to those who have had their bikes stolen, as recent media stories claim that bike crime in big cities such as London and Manchester is rarely solved. 

The bike was originally stolen earlier this month from outside the owner Tessa Gregory’s home in Hackney. By-passer Alex Dalglish found it several days later, abandoned in the St John-at-Hackney church graveyard.

Thankfully, it had been marked and registered to BikeRegister, the National Cycle Database, at one of the many Met Police bike marking events that take place every week across London.

After noticing the BikeRegister sticker and marking, Alex took the bike home with him and rang the hotline number printed on the sticker. Within a matter of minutes, a member of our support team had located Tessa’s details and contacted her to say that her bike had been found.

Tessa said: “I was really surprised to get a call from BikeRegister as I honestly didn’t think I would see my bike again. I’m really impressed that the system works so well and that this all came about because I got my bike marked and registered at a Met Police bike marking session. My bike isn’t an expensive one, but I have since bought a more valuable bike that I intend to get marked and registered as soon as possible.”

James Brown, MD of BikeRegister, said: "Police have no way of knowing who a bike belongs to unless it is registered. All UK police forces have a login for the BikeRegister database and can check ownership details of any registered cycles they recover on the system. 

"More than 476,000 people have already registered their bikes on BikeRegister.com It’s free to do and only takes a couple of minutes. Bike owners can also purchase one of our bike marking kits for added security. Marking reduces the chances of a bike being stolen in the first instance."

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

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