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Police forces around the country have been encouraging the public to get their property marked with an ultra-violet security code.

The code is then registered on a database, so if the property is stolen and then recovered, it should be easy to track the rightful owner.

But the system only works if the police look for the security marks when items are handed into lost property.

Inside Out decided to test the system after being told that the police were routinely failing to carry out these simple checks.

'Cycle safe'

Presenter Joe Crowley had his bike security marked and registered with Hampshire Police’s cycle safe scheme.

Joe sets out to test the system

"I pretended my bike had been stolen and reported it to the police," he said. 

"One of my colleagues then handed the bike into lost property at Fratton police station the next day.

"It should have been easy for the police to find the security tag and give me a call.

"But instead, they left my bike in storage for three months before auctioning it off at Chichester Market."

The money raised at the lost property auction goes to the Police Fund. Fortunately, on this occasion, Joe Crowley was at the market to buy his own bike back.

"I was staggered that the police had my bike all that time and they simply hadn’t bothered to check.

"The security mark was still on the frame, so it should have been simple to find me."

Similar experience

Joe’s not the only person who has had a registered bike auctioned off by Hampshire Police.

Faye Figgins: 'police have failed'

Faye Figgins, from Portsmouth, was stopped by the police when she was cycling to work and they persuaded her to join the cycle safe scheme.

And she was glad she had her bike security marked, because a few months later it was stolen.

"When it was stolen there was the hope that if it was recovered by the police they would contact me and I would get my bike back," she says.

Inside Out discovered that her bike was handed into police lost property the day after it was stolen.

But instead of checking the tag and returning the bike to Fay, the police stored it for several months before selling it at Chichester Market.

Faye says the police have failed in their duty: "I am so angry, as they had my property and they should have called me straight away.

"It must be so simple for them to look on the database and find my contact details.

"I loved that bike and it was stolen, and then they sold it, which is a horrible thought."

A mistake

Assistant Chief Constable John Campbell apologised for the way the police sold off Faye’s bike.

Assistant Chief Constable Campbell apologised

"That shouldn’t have happened and it was a mistake. But it’s not something that occurs on a regular basis. There are numerous examples where we return property and bikes.

"As a matter of practice staff that are employed within property centres check for security markings, because that’s their reason for being, trying to reunite property with members of the public who have lost them."

The police say the system does usually work and that the problems identified by Inside Out were down to individual errors.

"We got it wrong," says ACC Campbell.

"I have no doubt people will be surprised and disappointed, because I was when I heard the circumstances.

"But I can reassure everyone that we have a real desire to get this right, not to let these mistakes happen again, and to do all we can when property is identifiable to get it back to its rightful owner."