IN A BID to help cut the number of bicycle thefts on the Isle of Wight, the police will be holding an event today (Saturday) to encourage Islanders to register their bikes. 

Officers from the South Wight Neighbourhood Policing Team will be holding a 'bike register' event at Morrison's supermarket, Lake, between 10.30am and 1.30pm.

Registering a bike is free and takes under three minutes, and can be complimented by the use of BikeRegister’s security marking kits.

The Membership Plus kit the police will be promoting comes with visible tamper-resistant labels, which makes bikes far harder for thieves to resell, and less likely to target.

"Bikes marked with these stickers are 83 per cent less likely to be stolen than un-marked bikes," an Island Police spokesperson said.

"As part of the process, we will need to register your bike on the Bike Register National Cycle Database."