Registering a bike

Hi - I was robbed of a bike recently, which I had registered with immobilise.com. I'm about to get a new bike, but am a bit confused about the apparent profusion of ways I can register a bike.

As far as I can tell I have these possibilities for the UK:

1) immobilise.com - the Home Office-approved database.

2) bikeregister.com - claims to be the "leading" site.

3) bikeshepherd.org - using the secure Pulse ID tag kit.

4) www.met.police.uk/transport/cycle_marking.html - police cycle marking.

I might be being a bit dense here, but these all seem to be different, competing methods, or do they all talk to each other?! Which one is best? Do other people register with all of them?

I'm particularly confused that LCC recommends registering with Immobilise ( http://lcc.org.uk/articles/security-marking-for-your-bicycle ), yet the Met Police seem to be using BikeRegister ( http://www.bikeregister.com/16_Jun_2011_104002.htm ). As a triple-whammy, TfL recommend getting your bike registered, but don't give a link ( http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/cycling/11688.aspx ).

Thank you for any information.

Replies

LCC - Who's monitoring the forum? This is an important post that should be responded to you by you with links to further details.

Is it time that you set this forum up properly and with moderators for the different sections??

 

Sorry to hear you got a bike stolen. Our Advice section needs updating because the Met Police recently adopted Bike Register as their preferred registration system (instead of immobilise)

We're happy to recommend this company because it has the key features that it's free to register and free for buyers to check if a bike for sale is on the register (ie, stolen).

In the past companines have charged buyers to check their database, which is obviously a disincentive to checking, which means the system is likely to fail.

Unfortunately the system also falls down because - as you rightly point out - there are numerous competing systems, each of which effectively reduces the overall system's effectiveness

We've been lobbying TfL and the government to fund a single free national register of bikes, like they have in the Netherlands.

Note, we're not talking about compulsory tax and registration - that would simply kill cycling. We're talking about a nationwide government-promoted registration scheme that becomes a major discincentive to stealing a bike.

Hope this helps

Post a reply

Sign in to post a reply.

Forum, rides and local