PROTECT your new Christmas cycle with a special marking scheme to be launched by Halfords in the New Year.

For just £3, cycle frames can be acid marked with a special national cycle registration number to help trace the bike if it is stolen.

Ultra-violet postcoding can be used on aluminium framed cycles, which cannot be acid-marked.

Everyone who gets their bikes marked under the scheme at the Manchester Road store, running from 11am to 4pm on January 21, will get a voucher and the chance to win bike locks.