BOLTON Police Crime prevention experts are going back to school - in a bid to crackdown on one of the town's fastest growing crimes.

A series of roadshows is being held at local schools in an effort to put a brake on the epidemic of cycle thefts.

Statistics reveal that in Bolton throughout last year 1,500 bikes, worth a staggering £350,000, were stolen - a 20 per cent increase on the previous year.

Police chiefs say the theft of pedal cycles, mostly mountain bikes, is well-organised. Stolen cycles are also increasingly being used by thieves to commit crimes, often to snatch handbags from passing women pedestrians.

A survey undertaken by Bolton Police last year revealed that 90 per cent of the owners of stolen cycles did not know the frame numbers of their machines. Only seven of the 1,500 cycles stolen during 1995 were post coded or security stamped.

In an effort to combat the crime spree Bolton Police crime prevention experts are visiting local schools around the town to stamp cycles free of charge, with the owner's postcode and house number. The campaign will start at Westhoughton High School on Saturday April 27, 9.30am - 3.30pm. Crime prevention officers will undertake the free stamping session from the Bolton Crime Prevention Caravan. They will also be available to give general advice on crime prevention to interested members of the public.

The second session will be held at Horwich College on Saturday May 11. On the same day Horwich's Homewatch Liaison Officer, and other volunteers, will give crime prevention advice at the Horwich Resource Centre from 9.30am to 1pm.

Three other venues are being arranged in an attempt to cover the entire metropolitan borough. Cyclists attending each session are urged to remember their post codes.

PC Stuart Ashall, Bolton Police community safety officer, said the town's criminals are reaping rich rewards from the theft of pedal cycles. He said many of the thefts can be prevented by the owner taking simple crime prevention precautions, security marking their machines or taking extra care where they leave them.

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