Earlier this year the Metropolitan Police uncovered what has been reported as the UK’s largest ever haul of stolen tools, at a site in Ilford. The discovery followed a major investigation, named Operation Larkwood, which identified thousands of items suspected to be linked to organised tool theft. The operation was supported by forensic marking specialists, and tests identifying registered property have already enabled multiple recoveries to legitimate owners.
One of the items returned was a fibre splicer worth around £2,000, recovered by Openreach, whose National Security Manager met the sergeant who led the operation to receive it back and said the recovery highlighted the value of marking equipment at source.
That is the part of the story worth sitting with. Thousands of items were found in one place. Recovery was possible for the ones that could be tied to an owner.
The Gap Between Being Stolen and Being Returned
Tool and equipment theft is not a niche problem. Reported tool theft rose 16% in 2025, and the Metropolitan Police area recorded 197 offences per 100,000 residents, from 17,727 total offences. In Scotland, police recorded 1,765 reports of tool theft over a twelve month period. Research among UK tradespeople found 42% had already been a victim, rising to 51% of those aged 35 to 44.
But the number that matters most is a different one. Insurer NFU Mutual found that 89% of tradespeople and contractors have been victims of theft, while only 59% record equipment serial numbers.
That is the gap Operation Larkwood exposed. Police finding your equipment is only the first half of getting it back. The second half is being able to prove it is yours, and that depends entirely on work done before the theft rather than after it.
Two Kinds of Marking, Doing Two Different Jobs
Police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners have run tool marking campaigns across the country this year. Travis Perkins partnered with the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner and Sussex Police to deliver 1,000 forensic marking kits to tradespeople in the county. Thames Valley ran a series of free tool marking sessions at trade counters, with police officers and marking specialists on hand to advise. Hertfordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner launched a campaign offering free kits to protect 50,000 tools across the county.
Those schemes use forensic marking, which is covert. A microscopic, uniquely coded solution is applied to the item and registered to the owner. It is invisible in normal use, and its purpose is to establish ownership once an item has been recovered. It is exactly what made the Larkwood recoveries possible, and it works.
We do not manufacture forensic marking, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What we make sits alongside it and does a different job.
An asset label or tag is overt. It is designed to be seen, and that visibility is the point. A clearly branded, ownership-marked label makes an item harder to sell on and signals to anyone considering taking it that ownership is traceable. It also allows identification on sight, without a test, which matters at a site gate, in a second-hand listing, or when equipment comes back from a hire or a loan.
The two work best together. Covert marking proves ownership after the event. Overt labelling discourages the event and identifies the item in daily use.
What Actually Survives on a Tool
Labelling portable equipment is harder than labelling an office estate, and this is where specification earns its keep.
Tools get dropped, knocked, carried in vans, left in damp stores, wiped down with solvents and handled constantly. A label that would last a decade on a server rack may not last a season on an SDS drill. The surfaces are awkward too, with moulded plastic housings that are often low surface energy, textured grips and curved bodies.
A few things make the difference.
Construction over coating. A printed label with a laminate film over the top relies on that film staying put. On a flexing or textured surface the edge can lift, and once it does, moisture and solvent reach the print. Under-surface printing, where the ink sits on the underside of the substrate with the material itself acting as the protective layer, has nothing exposed to abrade. Our Ultimate and UltraTuff ranges are built this way for that reason.
The right adhesive for the surface. Moulded tool housings are frequently polypropylene or polyethylene, which are difficult substrates and need a high-tack formulation rather than a standard acrylic. Named, documented adhesives matter here because you can check what they are rated for. A general claim about bond strength tells you nothing.
Tamper evidence where resale is the risk. This is where the choice gets interesting, and it depends what you are protecting against.
Choosing Between Tamper Evident and Destructible
Our guide to asset labelling draws a distinction that is worth repeating, because the two terms get used interchangeably and they are not the same thing.
Tamper evident, or VOID, labels are designed to show visible signs of interference if removal is attempted. Peel one away and it leaves a deliberate VOID pattern on the surface beneath, so the asset itself carries evidence that a label was there and was removed. The label cannot then be cleanly reapplied or moved onto another item. We offer mini and large VOID vinyl options to suit different asset sizes.
Destructible labels go further. Our Ultra Destruct Vinyl hardens after application so that the material fragments on any attempt to remove it, making transfer to another item effectively impossible. It carries UV, abrasion and medium chemical resistance, and it is our best selling tamper proof label for good reason.
Neither makes removal impossible. Anyone determined enough, with enough time, can get a label off a tool. What both do is make it slow, messy and obvious, and make the resulting item visibly suspect to a buyer. For opportunistic theft, which is most theft, that is usually enough. For organised theft of the kind Larkwood uncovered, the evidence left behind is what matters later.
Give the Label Something Worth Reading
A label that just says a company name is a deterrent. A label with a structured identifier is a record.
Our guide recommends building meaning into asset IDs rather than running a flat sequence. An ID reading MAN-IT-0142 immediately tells you this is the 142nd IT asset registered at the Manchester site. The same principle applies to tools and plant, and on a multi-site contractor’s estate it is the difference between a number and useful information.
A QR code or barcode alongside it closes the loop to your register, and the human-readable number remains the fallback when a code is scuffed or a camera will not read it.
And then the part that nothing else can do for you. The record has to exist. Returning to that NFU Mutual finding, if only 59% of contractors record serial numbers, a large number of businesses could not describe their own stolen property to the police in enough detail to claim it. A label with an ID on it, matched to a register entry listing make, model, serial number and purchase date, is what turns a recovered item into your recovered item.
Thirty Years of Labelling Equipment That Gets Used Hard
Custom Labels has manufactured labels and asset tags in Bridgwater, Somerset since June 1997, with all production in house under ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 accreditation. We are proud members of Made in Britain.
Our customers include organisations whose equipment lives on sites and in vans rather than in offices, among them Balfour Beatty, Kier, BAM, Murphy and Network Rail. We have supplied asset tags for use in environments as demanding as Hinkley Point C.
If you are labelling tools, plant or portable equipment, tell us what the item is, what it is made of and where it lives. That is what determines the specification, and it is a conversation worth ten minutes before an order rather than a relabelling exercise a year later.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best way to mark tools against theft? A combination works best. Covert forensic marking registers ownership so police can identify recovered property, while an overt, tamper evident asset label deters theft in the first place and allows identification on sight. Recording serial numbers in an asset register underpins both.
What is the difference between tamper evident and destructible labels? A tamper evident, or VOID, label leaves a visible pattern on the surface when removal is attempted, showing the item has been interfered with. A destructible label, such as Ultra Destruct Vinyl, fragments on removal so it cannot be transferred to another item.
Can asset labels survive on power tools? Yes, with the right specification. Under-surface printed tags protect the print beneath the substrate rather than relying on a laminate, and the adhesive has to suit the housing material, which on many tools is a low surface energy plastic requiring a high-tack formulation.
Why do police recommend marking equipment? Because recovery depends on identification. Operations recovering large quantities of stolen tools can only return items that can be tied to a registered owner.
How should I record my tools and equipment? Keep a register listing make, model, serial number, purchase date and a unique asset ID that matches the label on the item. Structured IDs that encode site or category make the record more useful than a flat number sequence.
Talk to Us About Marking Your Equipment
If your tools, plant or portable equipment are not identifiable, our team can help you specify something that will survive the way they are used. Call 01278 433800, email sales@customlabels.co.uk, or order a sample pack to test on your own equipment.
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