TV personality Timmy Mallett’s stolen bike has been found 60 miles from where it was taken and just 10 days after it went missing thanks to an eagle-eyed youngster and BikeRegister.

Timmy presented popular children’s programme Wacaday in the early 1990s and was famous for his catchphrases ‘bleurgh’ and ‘utterly brilliant’. He still makes regular TV appearances and is also an award-winning artist.

He had his bike marked and registered to national cycle database BikeRegister at one of the many bike marking events that take place across the UK.

When Timmy realised his bike had been stolen, he accessed his account online on 24th March to flag it as stolen after the bike was taken in Maidenhead.

He posted about the loss on Twitter saying: “My lovely #Cannondale bike has been so much fun over 8k miles across UK in 2 years. Locked up in town, bike registered. Stolen. Upset.”

The bike was subsequently found just 10 days later on 3rd April by a young boy called Nathan who spotted the abandoned bike as he walked through an underpass with his dad in Swindon, around 60 miles away.

Nathan’s dad saw a BikeRegister sticker on the bike’s frame and called the helpline number printed on the sticker to see if the bike was listed as stolen. After checking the details, a BikeRegister helpdesk operator contacted Timmy with the good news that his bike had been found.

After the recovery, Timmy was quick to tweet his thanks to Nathan - and to BikeRegister: “Brilliant news. My treasured bike found 60 miles from where it was taken in subway in Swindon. Thank you young Nathan! @bikeregister works.”

BikeRegister is the leading online bicycle identification and registration initiative aiming to reduce cycle theft, identify stolen bikes and assist in owner recovery. It is used by every UK Police Force and is the preferred bike marking system of the Metropolitan Police Service. Over 630,000 bikes are registered on the database, with the number growing daily.

Timmy was delighted to have his beloved bike back, telling his 12,000 Twitter followers: “Very, very happy. Thank you @bikeregister you run a wonderful service!”

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

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