Blog; SelectaDNA’s #StopToolTheft Campaign Passes 1.7m Tools & Equipment Marked

SelectaDNA, the UK’s leading forensic marking brand, has announced that its #StopToolTheft campaign has now marked over 1.7m tools & equipment since June 2024 – more than eight times the 200,000-tool milestone it passed just seven months earlier, in January 2026.

Tool theft costs UK tradespeople dearly. SelectaDNA estimates the problem at around £800 million a year, while Direct Line research puts reported thefts at roughly 45,000 annually – one every 12 minutes – with wider industry surveys suggesting the true toll, including unreported thefts, is significantly higher.

#StopToolTheft grew out of the tradespeople-led Westminster rallies organised by Trades United, the first of which travelled from Brent Cross to Parliament Square on 3 June 2024 to demand tougher action on tool crime. SelectaDNA answered that call, partnering with the Metropolitan Police to run mass tool-marking events – including what became “the biggest mass tool-marking event yet” at Toolstation in Bow, East London, in December 2024, backed by insurance broker Howden and CT1.

“SelectaDNA has been with us from the start – not just amplifying the message, but providing a real, practical solution that protects tradespeople every day,” said Shoaib Awan, known to thousands as The Gas Expert and founder of Trades United.

The campaign now works with police forces and PCC offices across England, including Cumbria Constabulary, Derbyshire Constabulary, Essex Police, Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary, Hertfordshire PCC, Humberside Police, Kent Police, Merseyside Police, the Metropolitan Police, Surrey Police, Sussex PCC, Thames Valley PCC, West Midlands Police, and Wiltshire Police – several of which have run dedicated free tool-marking schemes, including Hertfordshire PCC’s rollout to protect 50,000 tools, Thames Valley PCC’s crackdown series, and a joint initiative with Travis Perkins and Sussex PCC covering a further 50,000 tools.

The marking scheme has directly supported police operations against the resale of stolen tools. Officers have used SelectaDNA marking to identify stolen goods at car boot sale raids, including one at Willow Farm car boot sale in Rainham, east London, where the Metropolitan Police, working with Essex Police and trading standards, recovered around £50,000 of suspected stolen tools alongside stolen bikes, cash and counterfeit goods, leading to four arrests.

SelectaDNA also supported the Metropolitan Police’s largest-ever haul of stolen tools, an operation in Ilford, east London, that uncovered around ten lorry loads of tools and equipment worth an estimated £2 million, after officers identified items marked with SelectaDNA’s forensic technology. Sergeant Dave Catlow of the Metropolitan Police said the operation showed that “using accredited forensic marking solutions helps strengthen investigations, support evidence gathering, and deliver tangible outcomes.”

Among the items recovered was a specialist Openreach fibre splicer, valued at around £2,000, which was identified by officers and returned to Openreach. Clair Frame, UK Sales & Business Development Director at SelectaDNA, said: “Marking tools and equipment with SelectaDNA doesn’t just help ensure stolen items find their way home. It also sends a strong signal to organised crime gangs that tool theft no longer pays.”

Beyond frontline recovery work, SelectaDNA has continued to support the wider campaign for legislative change – backing Trades United’s ongoing Westminster rallies calling for reform of the Theft Act 1968 and the Equipment Theft (Prevention) Act 2023, and taking the issue directly to Parliament. SelectaDNA representatives attended a meeting at Parliament with Kemi Badenoch MP, alongside representatives from Balfour Beatty, Openreach and the Metropolitan Police.

In addition to ongoing working partnerships with Balfour Beatty, Torrent Trackside and Openreach, SelectaDNA has also taken the #StopToolTheft message directly to tradespeople at industry events, appearing alongside partners including CT1, Checkatrade, Rhino Insurance, PoweredNow, On The Tools, and Morgan Sindall. The milestone also comes as SelectaDNA products launch in Jewson stores, now rolling out across 28 branches nationwide.

James Brown, Managing Director of Selectamark, said: “Passing 1.7m tools & equipment marked is a real milestone for this campaign, and a reflection of how many police forces, trade partners and tradespeople themselves have got behind it since June 2024. Every one of those tools is a livelihood we’ve helped protect, and we’re not stopping here.”

SelectaDNA is encouraging tradespeople who haven’t yet protected their tools to visit selectadna.co.uk/forensic-marking-for-construction to find out more about the #StopToolTheft campaign and how forensic marking works.