A British company has decided to tackle the problem of bicycle theft head-on, by proposing a new solution for finding a stolen bike as quickly as possible. This system combines a GPS system with agents dedicated to recovering the vehicles out in the field.

In the UK, a bike gets stolen every two minutes on average. When taking into account electric bikes exclusively, only 2% of these vehicles that are stolen are recovered by their owners. To help such owners, BackPedal offers a unique electric bike protection and recovery service.

Its service includes equipping all its customers with GPS trackers But where BackPedal stands out is that it also has a network of recovery agents in major cities across the UK. These people, who are often retired police officers, military veterans or security professionals, are on standby "24/7, rain or shine" to hunt for stolen bikes, based on the latest GPS data coming in. BackPedal takes care of the entire operation, from the deployment of its agents to the physical recovery of the bike and its return to the customer. Whenever necessary, the police are also called in, especially if someone needs to be arrested or if the recovery requires access to private property.

BackPedal claims to be capable of finding up to 9 out of 10 bikes reported stolen. But of course this service comes at a price. The installation of the GPS tracker via a network of partners costs nearly 200 pounds (the equivalent of US$250) while the monthly subscription costs 8.99 pounds (a little over US$11). At this price, a dedicated team will take care of you if you report your bike stolen. Note that BackPedal also offers on-demand recovery for a one-off price of 799 pounds (1000 dollars). The company also promises to refund 50% of this amount if the vehicle is not found.

The service is currently available in a few major British cities (London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Southampton, Glasgow, etc.), as well as in Amsterdam. There are plans to set it up in other major European cities in the future.

 - AFP Relaxnews