There are many methods of marking personal property available, but perhaps the best known is Ultra Violet (UV) marker pens.

You can mark electrical items such as TV's, lap tops, game consoles and vacuum cleaners. You can also mark personal items such as MP3 players, mobile phones and digital cameras.

It is not suitable to mark items made of absorbent materials. i.e. wood/cloth.

It is not advisable to mark items of high/sentimental value i.e. antiques/family heirlooms.

Using the pen write your house number and post code on the item. Although not visible to the naked eye, your writing will show up under UV light.

• On large items, mark at the rear or on the underside.
• Do not write on the screen of your TV or computer
• On smaller items, mark at a suitably sized place, preferably where it is handled the least.
• The markings do eventually fade with time so it is advisable to remark every six months.

Don't forget about the items in your shed or garage. If spoiling the aesthetics isn't too much of a concern then it is a good idea to paint your house number and postcode onto the front of electrical gardening equipment such as your lawnmower, strimmer, hedge cutters etc., as doing this can deter theft.

As technology has moved on so has property marking. A new sophisticated method to invisibly mark property involves a colourless liquid solution that contains a unique chemical ‘code', similar to DNA. A number of accredited companies provide this new style of property marking, including smartwater, selectadna and redwebsecurity

You can now also register anything that has a serial number (including mobile phones) with a service called Immobilise. This is a free to use national property database and is simple to use. Registering your property will help the police identify it should you loose it or you have it stolen.