A PIONEERING anti-theft scheme for cycles created in Gosport is to be adopted throughout the Hamp-shire police force to combat the growing problem.

Gosport has suffered rising numbers of bicycle thefts, with a ten to 15 per cent increase last year compared with 1998. This year police expect last year's total of 875 stolen bikes to be exceeded.

To combat this epidemic, Gosport police launched a new scheme asking owners of bikes to fill in a description form.

The forms are available at the police station and at bike shops in the town. Detailed descriptions are taken and the forms handed in to police when bikes are stolen.

This makes the job of recovering bikes and returning them to their rightful owner a lot easier.

Inspector Kirsty Blaylock of Gosport police said: "It's too early to say yet whether this new scheme has any affect on the crime figures.

"To have an affect on the crime figures, thieves have got to be caught riding the bikes.

"It makes our job a lot easier if we have accurate descriptions of bikes, so if we see them being ridden around, then we can nab the rider. This should then act as a deterrent to thieves if they think they're likely to get caught.

"At the moment owners have only the vaguest descriptions of their bikes when they report them stolen.

"So, we have no idea if the bikes we see ridden past us are the stolen ones or not. Even if we have a suspicion a bike is not with the rightful owner and stop them, then we can't even get a definitive answer from the owner whether it is his or hers

"We also like to have some kind of evidence before we accuse someone of riding someone else's bike.''

The scheme was devised by crime prevention officer Mike Hampton and has been recognised as a good idea countywide after £200,000 worth of bikes were stolen in 1999. Seven bikes were taken during the weekend.