BBC lost laptops and mobiles worth £240,000

BBC laptops and mobiles worth more than £240,000 have been lost or stolen over the past two years, a Freedom of Information Act request by computer security firm Absolute Software has revealed.

Between April 2008 and March this year, 146 laptops, 65 mobile phones and 17 BlackBerry devices were reported as lost or stolen by corporation staff – the equivalent of 1,656 TV licence fees.

The missing laptops were valued at £219,000, the mobile phones at £12,913 and the BlackBerrys at £9,106. Nineteen items worth £23,450 were recovered in this time, leaving the bill at £217,569.

The FoI request – part of Absolute Software's drive to highlight laptop security – also revealed that a BBC employee was investigated over the theft of a laptop.

David Everitt, a general manager at Absolute Software, said: "It is shocking that any organisation could lose so much equipment, but the BBC is just one of many we've seen recently, proving it's all too common.

"In this case, however, this technology is paid for by the licence payer and employees should be far more careful about how they handle it."

A BBC spokeswoman added: "The BBC takes theft very seriously and has implemented a number of measures to reduce the level of crime.

"The portability of laptops and phones means that in any large organisation there is an inevitable risk of theft."

An investigation is warranted whenever an allegation of theft is made by any member of corporation staff, the spokeswoman said.

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