MASTER makes a difference

Westminster City Council has reported a sharp drop-off in bike thefts, particularly in the area of St James’s Square in London, where they’ve had a strong push on tagging bikes through the industry’s MASTER Security Scheme. The suggestion is that thieves are now avoiding the ‘protected area’, for fear of being traced through the scheme.

The Square was identified as one of four ‘hotspots’ for motorcycle theft by Westminster City Council, with around 52 motorcycles or scooters stolen each year from its parking bays. Around £1 million worth of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds have been stolen from the whole of the City of Westminster since April 2014 – a total of 191 units. 

Since September though, none have been taken from St James’s Square, as a result of a series of measures put in place by Westminster City Council through working in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and security marking specialists Datatag. This could now be rolled out to other ‘hotspots’. 

Westminster City Council and Datatag ran a day in September to offer riders the chance to get their motorcycles security ‘tagged’ on site for just £50, and a steady queue of riders took advantage of the offer. 

Tagging involves applying a combination of highly visible and hidden security markers, which deter thieves but also help the police recover vehicles if they are stolen. Fitting takes around 25 minutes to complete. After the tagging took place, warning signs were put up to let thieves know that users of the parking bay had security marked their bikes. 

Community Protection Officer for Westminster City Council Paul King, who has led on this project explained; “We are determined to reduce motorcycle theft in the City of Westminster. We have applied a combination of measures in partnership with the Metropolitan Police and Datatag, which alerts riders as to the risks, and gives them the means to avoid them. We would like to repeat for other theft ‘hot spots’ in the City.” 

Westminster City Council has since added 78 ground anchors to the parking bay, which offer an additional highly visible deterrent. When riders secure their bikes to anchor points it makes it difficult for thieves to just lift up a scooter or motorcycle and put it into a van – a common way for thieves to steal an unsecured bike.

Over 70,000 new motorcycles and scooters have now been protected and registered with the MASTER Security Scheme since January 2013, and theft figures suggest that a tagged bike is less likely to be stolen than an untagged one. On average of  24,000 motorcycles are stolen annually in the UK, half of which are taken from London streets, with motorcycle theft in Westminster accounting for 55% of all vehicles stolen.

This is becoming much less of a problem for newer bikes, as most major manufacturers have signed up to the MASTER scheme, which means bikes are tagged from the beginning, but the problem is shifting to unmarked – and typically older – bikes. The figures suggest that motorcycles or scooters which are unprotected, are now far more likely to be stolen than those which are protected by security markings or physical security.