BIRMINGHAM City Council has adopted a novel strategy in response to the rising number of motorcycle thefts – having police ‘ticket’ the at-risk machines.
As part of the Motorcycle Industry Association’s ‘MASTER’ security scheme, the City Council had police stick official looking ‘tickets’ to bikes without any form of security device or lock.
These tickets were in fact there to remind owners about the importance of extra security measures, such as a chain or disk lock.
At the same time, officers took note of the motorcycles with or without extra security fitted.
When the scheme was launched in early August, only 40 percent of motorcycles in the city were protected with security devices. Two months later and this has now increased to 90 per cent.
PC Paul Ennis from West Midlands Police told Motoring Research: ‘When we set out on this campaign we had one simple objective: to make riders aware of the risk of theft when parking a motorcycle and to use some additional security.
‘When we started this, the majority of motorcycles in this area were inadequately protected. Today the majority are well protected.’
