The mayor will launch the start of a project to help city residents reclaim their stolen bikes

The City Council will launch its first phase of it project to cut down on bike theft tomorrow when it hands 600 specially designed registration chips for free to the public.

More than 19,000 bikes were reported stolen in the city last year and getting them back to their original owners proved no easy task so now the council, with the help of the Technical University of Denmark, has developed an identity chip that can be scanned by the electronic readers carried by traffic wardens.

The chip is affixed inside the rear reflector of the bicycle and the owner’s details are registered with the council. If the bike is stolen, the owner can report the theft on the council website, which will activate the chip. The warden’s scanners will be alerted if they are in the vicinity of the stolen bike and a e-mail sent to the owner, identifying the location of the bicycle.

A total of 5,000 chips will be eventually made available to the public in the near future and the first batch will be handed out on City Hall Square between 3pm and 7pm tomorrow.

Lord Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard will also be on hand during the event to help attach the new chips to some of the bicycles.