Stolen Bikes UK has launched a competition to celebrate two successful years fighting bike theft across the UK. The lucky winners will win £500 to spend at their local bike shops with hiplocks for two runners up.

Since the project was launch, 140 bikes have been recovered and over 500,000 cyclists have visited the page. The site offers advice and guidance for victims of bike theft. Recently the site also launched CheckThatBike! which offers you the opportunity to establish whether the bike you are hoping to buy has been registered as stolen.

It does this by taking the frame number or asset tag and checking it against every bike register and with bicycle insurers. Recently CheckThatBike! made an agreement with ETA Insurance to check frame numbers against lists of bikes reported stolen by their customers, this is a world first as far as the cycling industry is concerned.

“It’s important for buyers of used bikes to investigate the history of the bike, failure to do this could not only put money into the hands of bike thieves but also leave you without a bike and possibly facing criminal charges.” says founder John Moss.

With 526,000 bikes stolen in the UK in 2011/2012 and the problem ever-worsening, the cost of bike theft investigation to the police is £45 million every year while the problem costs cyclists a staggering £140 million per annum.

CheckThatBike! is currently campaigning for police forces to release data about frame numbers reported stolen to them. So far the petition has 5,000 signatures.

You can join the campaign and enter the competition to win the £500 voucher here.