A special event to protect bicycles and deter thieves has been declared a success.

The bike marking and registration was organised by Southeast Communities Rail Partnership as part of Community Rail Week to highlight active and sustainable travel projects.

It took place on the concourse of Brighton & Hove Albion’s American Express stadium at Falmer on Tuesday (21 May).

The new Mayor of Brighton & Hove set sustainable travel as a civic goal during the event.

More than 20 cyclists from the area as well as students and staff from the universities of Sussex and Brighton had their bikes marked and registered on the day. The details are added to a national database promoted by Bike Register and supported by all police services.

The marking was carried out by wheeling and cycling charity Sustrans and funded by Community Rail Network.

The Mayor of Brighton & Hove Cllr Mohammed Asaduzzaman attended the opening ceremony in his first official engagement as the city’s civic representative.

He said: “It’s a privilege to be here to support your sustainable travel initiative. This is my first engagement this morning – I cannot miss it. We all will be working together to make sure our city as a whole we are promoting sustainable travel for every single transport policy.”

The event was opened by Seaford town crier Peter White who made the traditional ‘oyez, oyez, oyez’ cry.

He told the group gathered at the Amex stadium: “The goal of today’s activity is to secure Brighton’s bikes, so when its students are told to ‘get on their bikes’, they are still there for them to use!

“Bike Register is a national scheme supported by all police forces to protect and mark bikes. Those marked bikes are 83% less likely to be stolen than their anonymous cousins.

“This event is part of Community Rail Week highlighting activities which are ‘More Than A Railway’. Community Rail Week will “encourage and enable more people to use the train as a sustainable, healthy, inclusive way to travel”, enabling cyclists to travel by train to get out and launch their rides. There are leaflets available today to promote cycle rides from ‘hub’ stations.”

Sustrans officer Stuart Langridge commented: “The bike marking was a great success … it all went very, very well, very smoothly and I think Sustrans’ involvement in projects like this goes hand-in-hand with the Community Rail Partnership.

“Multi-modal travel is something that we all promote: cycling to and from train stations and from the other side when you get to your destinations. It’s something that Sustrans fully promotes whether it’s trains, buses, bikes, wheels, walking – you name it – so projects like these are something we should all take part in and do more of.”

:: Full video of the opening ceremony plus feedback and reaction from cyclists is on our YouTube channel. Click here to watch.