Castle Howard, the stately home in North Yorkshire, and famous for its role in the TV series Brideshead Revisited, recently experienced a theft on the estate, where valuables worth around £16,000 were stolen. These included a quad bike. This incident, experienced by one high-profile residence, is by no means an isolated occurrence: quad bike theft is on the rise, especially in rural communities. For instance, in March of this year quad bikes were targeted by thieves across the Cotswolds, with two bikes being taken from a village in one day alone. And in Worcester, over the summer, a disabled Afghan war veteran had his quad bike stolen.
The good news is that there is now a concerted effort under way from police, bike owners, quad bike clubs, and retailers to stop the thieves in their tracks.
Amongst the recommended prevention measures are:
- Fitting quad bikes with concealed transponders – these make the bikes less appealing to the thieves, and also make a safe return to the original more likely should a stolen bike be recovered.
- Ensuring quad bikes are locked in secure premises overnight
- Taking photographs of the bike from different angles, and noting down any unique or distinguishing marks.
- Fitting mechanical immobilisers, such as U-locks.
- Registering off-road bikes with the DVLA
- Chaining your quad bike to an anchor embedded in concrete.
Combined with increased vigilance such measures, fully backed by a responsible community of bikers and retailers of new and secondhand quad bikes, can really make a difference.