Stolen bikes and identity registers/databases.

[I like Skol]

For some reason I found myself perusing the 'Stolen Bikes' section this afternoon and a few threads got me thinking, THIS ONE in particular. I realised I now have an assortment 6 reasonable and very good bikes in the household including the kids bikes which , what with me being a bit of a bike nut, are also not run of the mill Halfrauds specials. I 'think' I have frame numbers for them all but as these are usually scribbled on the original receipts and filed away goodness knows where I thought it would be a good idea to clean the crud off the bottom of the bottom brackets and make a recent note of all the numbers in one place.

I particularly like the idea of registering the bikes on a third party database so if the worst ever happens there is a small increase in the slight chance I might get them back. The problem is choosing which database and this is where you guys come in. Which is the best? Which is the database that the UK's police forces turn to first when trying to identify recovered stolen bikes or which has the best coverage by area. Is usage regional, so is there a best one for me to use in the North West that covers Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Derbyshire police forces.

Looking around the forum I have never stumbled across this sort of information before and given the terrible impact of bike theft and the apparent scale of the problem I am surprised this info isn't a sticky somewhere prominent on the board or maybe at the head of the stolen bikes page?

So fire away, what are the answers to the above questions and Admin, can this be a sticky somewhere once the info is collated?

 

[HLaB]

Its come up in other posts before but I use immobilise.com

 

[I like Skol]

I have registered all six bikes at immobilise.com and also my tomtom. Seems quite a good site and heavily endorsed by many police forces (inc GMP which are my local force). Each item can be described including any unique points and also adding pictures which will be a great help to plod when trying to match items to descriptions if serial numbers have been tampered with. Will spend some more time adding other obvious items like laptops and TV etc when I get chance.

This info should really be a sticky. Every new forum member should be directed to this so we can make an impact on the criminals.