POLICE have teamed up with mobile phone stores in a bid to cut mobile phone crime.

Designated phone shops in East Lancashire are being given coding pens to mark mobile phones with postcodes and house numbers.

The simple step -- which is invisible to the naked eye -- will make mobile phones easier to trace back to their owner.

Since the beginning of this year, 184 mobile phones have been reported stolen in Eastern Division, which covers Blackburn, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley.

Although many of these may be recovered or handed in to police stations, there are often no identifying marks on the phones to link them to their owners.

PC Angela Marle, from Accrington police station, said: "We would urge anybody with a mobile phone to go to these shops and have their phone postcoded."

Police say mobile phones are often handed into enquiry desks in police stations but, if they have had the SIM card removed, often cannot be traced back to the owner.

Police said the shops involved in the scheme were:

Marnita Ltd. Abbey Street, Accrington.

Vodafone, Broadway, Accrington.

Vodafone, Market Way, Blackburn.

Link, Victoria Court Shopping Centre, Blackburn.

Fone Zone, Whalley Banks, Blackburn.

Terry Phones, Duckworth Street, Darwen.

V-Talk, High Street, Rishton.

Inspector Gadget, Berry Lane, Longridge.

Phone Works, Eshton Terrace, Clitheroe.