BICYCLE theft can be significantly reduced by placing pictures of staring eyes above bike racks, North-East researchers have found.

Over a two year period, by combining the eye pictures with a short anti-theft message, academics at Newcastle University were able to reduce thefts from campus bike racks.

There was also a noticeable difference in places without the signs, where bike theft went up by 63 per cent, suggesting that the crime had been displaced to other locations, rather than eliminated.

The findings have already led to changes on the Newcastle University campus and the team is working with police across the country to advise them on how they may be able to use the research.

Professor Melissa Bateson and Professor Daniel Nettle of the Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, and Ken Nott of the university's security team, described their findings in a paper published in the journal PLoS ONE.

Lead author Professor Nettle said: "We don't know exactly what is happening here but this just adds to the growing evidence that images of eyes can have a big impact on behaviour.

"One strong possibility is that the images of eyes work by making people feel watched. We care what other people think about us, and as a result we behave better when we feel we are being observed."

The scheme has proved so successful that the British Transport Police are trialling it on a route between London and Southend.