Ad description

Claims on www.bikeregister.com, for a bicycle registration database. The ad stated "The UK's leading online bicycle identification and registration initiative aiming to reduce cycle theft, identify stolen bikes and assist in owner recovery. BikeRegister is used by every UK Police Force".

Issue

The complainant challenged whether the claim "BikeRegister is used by every UK Police Force" was misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood from personal experience that that was not the case.

Response

Selectamark Security Systems plc t/a BikeRegister said that all 45 UK police forces from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales used BikeRegister. They provided us with a list of BikeRegister accounts held by members of the UK police, totalling almost 3,000 accounts, which included those registered in each of the 45 forces. They said that BikeRegister worked across borders, allowing, for example, a bicycle reported stolen by Kent Police and later found by West Midlands Police to be identified and the original owner notified.

They told us that over 250,000 bicycles were registered on their database, and that hundreds of searches were carried out on their website every day. They said that police forces regularly bought BikeRegister kits in bulk and carried out bike marking events across the country.

They told us that it was not possible to determine whether each neighbourhood within each police force had an account with BikeRegister, but said that they were not making such a claim. They did not believe the claim was misleading or exaggerated, and believed that the evidence they had provided substantiated that every UK police force did in fact use BikeRegister, to varying degrees.

Assessment

Not upheld

The ASA considered that consumers were likely to understand the claim "BikeRegister is used by every UK Police Force" to mean that all police forces in the UK used BikeRegister to locate the owners of stolen bicycles. We considered that consumers were likely to infer from the claim that if they reported their bike stolen to one police force, and it was found by another police force, they would be able to be traced as the owner.

We acknowledged that all 45 geographic police forces in the UK held accounts with BikeRegister, and that, wherever a bike was stolen, it would be possible for the relevant force to trace the owner if the bike was registered with BikeRegister.

We understood that the complainant had had their bicycle stolen in a different neighbourhood of London from where they lived, and had been told by the local police station that they did not use BikeRegister. However, we considered that consumers were likely to understand that it would not necessarily be the case that an account was held by police in every local neighbourhood.

We therefore concluded that the claim that BikeRegister was used by every police force had been substantiated.

We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules  3.1 3.1 Marketing communications must not materially mislead or be likely to do so.  (Misleading advertising),  3.7 3.7 Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove claims that consumers are likely to regard as objective and that are capable of objective substantiation. The ASA may regard claims as misleading in the absence of adequate substantiation.  (Substantiation), and  3.11 3.11 Marketing communications must not mislead consumers by exaggerating the capability or performance of a product.  (Exaggeration), but did not find it in breach.

Action

No further action necessary.

CAP Code (Edition 12)

3.1     3.11     3.7    


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