After testing of the SelectaDNA Classic Car Kit for suitability and ease of application, the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs (FBHVC) has endorsed the product as its first vehicle security device.
The federation is now offering its members the kit which contains a special fluid containing microdots with a unique reference number on them.
The fluid can be painted onto car parts and if a vehicle is stolen and later recovered, the microdots can be read under a microscope and matched on a database so the vehicle’s original owner can be found. Even if the microdots cannot be found, the fluid itself is completely unique, containing a synthetic DNA code which can be analysed in a forensic laboratory.
This DNA code is held on a central database to which all UK Police forces have access. Police can identify the presence of SelectaDNA on a vehicle by simply exposing it, or components from it, to ultra violet light.
Geoff Lancaster, Communications Director at the FHBVC, said: “This level of traceability is very powerful in deterring a criminal from touching a SelectaDNA-marked vehicle.”
FBHVC chairman, David Whale, has been busy restoring a pre-production Mini Moke in time for the vehicle’s 50th anniversary. He has applied SelectaDNA during the rebuild. He said: “Should the vehicle be stolen and broken for parts, I have every prospect of recovering the components and absolutely no problem identifying them as mine as the DNA code will link them to me through the national database.”
Geoff Lancaster added: “It is a ‘fit and forget’ system with no annual subscription, as with other products, and it is even transferrable to a new owner should you sell the vehicle. We truly believe that this product can play a major part in curbing the current growth in historic vehicle crime.”
Visit www.selectadna.co.uk.
