Neighbourhood officers across Northumberland are encouraging farmers and rural communities to take precautions to safely secure quad bikes after recent thefts.

The warning comes after a Suzuki quad was stolen from the Slaggyford area and an attempted theft of a quad in Allendale, both of which occurred over the weekend.

Neighbourhood Inspector Pam Bridges, of Northumbria Police, said: “The financial and emotional impact from these types of crimes is very significant for victims and are committed to tackling this type of rural crime.

“We work closely with partners and groups like Farmwatch to police issues and address concerns from communities.

“We also work closely with members of the public who are incredibly vigilant and report anything suspicious to officers.

“We advise owners take simple steps to help protect their property and machinery from potential thieves and lock windows and doors so that keys can’t be taken for vehicles.”

Steps to keeping property safe can include:

• Removing keys from unattended cars, tractors and quad bikes.
• Avoid leaving machinery or vehicles in fields and where possible lock them in outbuildings.
• Using ground anchor chains with anchor plates where possible.
• Marking trailers, quad bikes, horseboxes and tools with your postcode or farm name.
• Recording serial/chassis numbers and photograph them in case stolen.
• Fitting a tracker device or immobiliser to your vehicles.
• Listing your tools, together with serial numbers, and registering these on immobilise.com

Inspector Bridges added: “Taking precautions like these can help stop thieves in their tracks.”

Anyone who has information which may be beneficial to officers is asked to get in touch with police via 101, online on our website www.northumbria.police.uk, or by dropping into their local station.