POLICE suspect that a black market in expensive quad bikes stolen from homes and farms in East Lancashire is expanding.

In recent months several quad motorbikes - the four-wheel scrabblers often used on farms - have been stolen from homes in the area.

Worth between £500 and £5,000, thieves are particularly keen on the bikes because they are easy to steal and quickly stripped down for parts.

Sgt Graham Eccles, of Accrington's crime prevention department, said that gangs travel from as far afield as the Midlands to steal the vehicles. It is suspected that the stolen machines could be passed on to dealers in the Lancaster area and Ireland.

The Warbrick family, of Burnley Road in Altham, are the latest victims of the quad bike thieves.

Their child's blue and white Suzuki machine, worth £520, was taken from a stable in the grounds of their home. But Sgt Eccles said that owners of the bikes can take measures to protect them, such as a revolutionary bar code system which has just come onto the market.

He added: "Motorbikes and quad bikes can be marked by having a bar-code fitted, which can be scanned with identifying data. This means that if the bikes are stolen, most of the parts will be useless because they carry this information."

The bar-coding costs around £50 and local police stations will be able to provide more information about the scheme.

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