London 2012: Metal theft could disrupt Olympic travel according to MPs

London 2012: Metal theft could disrupt Olympic travel according to MPs

www.bbc.co.uk

Network Rail's Dyan Crowther says metal theft has cost her organisation £16 million in the last financial year, and caused 6000 hours of delays.

"We have six to eight incidents a day on our network," she said.

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with copper scrap values at > £4ooo / tonne [ 1oookg ] , and other metals `enjoying ` comparable elevated scrap values . the systematic metal theft " business " is spiraling out of control

transport and infrastructures are being disrupted on a daily basis , historic buildings are being vandalised and put at risk

the thefts are even affecting insurance policies - with insures refusing to cover metal theft losses

everyone , but the theives agrees that the situation is out of control - but no one seems to have the political spine to actually take any meaningfull , ie draconian action to address it

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

The Olympic place must be a gold mine. This article kinda reminds me of the movie "Lord of war" where the people in Africa took his plane piece by piece in one night. That's how civilization will be if all of this falls down the hole xD. Everything will return back to earth.

reply to post by ignorant_ape


yes - draconian action is required

so far , statistics indicate that only fatal incidences caused by metal theft have been the thieves themselves , and good riddance . Unfortunatly , that fact is more by luck than design

we need drastic action to ensure that the risks outweigh the rewards

mandatory custodial sentences , asset forfeiture , unlimited fines for all involved would be a start - i would avdvocate corpral and capital punishment - but hey we cannot violate thier " human rights " can we

The only way i see this slowing down is if the scrap dealers do not accept dodgy looking metal.

The price rise of scrap in the past 3years has made many scrap dealers millionaires, a big contributors to that has been stolen metals.

I know people who make a full time living out of scrap dealing, literally picking up everything off the street or in gardens and weighing it in at the end of the day, picking up a nice £200-£300 and thats been legit.

Sleepers, which go on traintracks can go for up to a grand, and thats just one. .

I know people who steal aluminium benches from parks and go weigh them in for £5000+. . Iv been around this and know for a fact the only way to try flush the theft of things like Sleepers and park benches is by making sure the scrap dealer doesnt accept them, as well as more stop and checks on scarp vehicles

And if the Gov really wanted to clamp down on this, then they could implement a system where the scrap dealer accepts the stolen goods, then goes directly to the police with footage of the purchase from the people who stole the property, with the dealer getting money back plus some reward - as well as staying anonymous

It's pretty big here in the US too. I used to work for a telecommunications company that threw away wire and other cables. Often I would catch little kids (maybe 10 years old) digging the wire for their dad. Their dad would have a trailer and they would just pick out anything suspicious and take it and run lol. Especially when you would leave the building. It never really bothered me though, I always felt bad when I scared them off.. I mean we were only throwing it away and I couldn't scrap it myself or I'd be fired. So someone else might as well have it.

We have an average of two scrap wagons that drive round our housing estate week in , week out , they have a taped loop of a voice shouting [ any old iron ] blasting from a loudspeaker on top of the vehicle. Once upon a time you may see , hear one of these maybe once a month , now they are everywhere , this is a good barometer as to how bad things are going in the UK.

Heh. All that comes to mind is that the olympic stadium they have been building, it already is metal-theft.

Theft of metal that has been payed with tax payers money. I honestly don't know anyone who gives a flying poop about the olympics and what good it will bring to our country other than the threat of a terror attack...

I couldn't care less about the Olympic plays. What really shocks me is that some people steal 60 Euro worth of copper and risk hundreds of train passenger's lifes.

60 Euro hundreds of lifes

The scrap dealers should be prosecuted as accomplices as they are known and have the most to lose. If the metal theft can be linked to a disaster, they are held responsible as though they removed the metal. An onerous system of receipts and paperwork will slow everything down. Ensuring that even casual scrappers will have to be licensed with photo-ID and fingerprints on record may remove some of the criminal element. A biometrics plan should be easy to implement, given the UK biometrics systems already in place.
After a few scrap dealers are jailed and stripped of assets, the others will begin to control their greed. We will never be rid of the 'artful dodgers' of the world and prosecuting them would waste resources. Get the dealers who are the driving force behind metal theft.

Blah blah blah, more scare mongering by those who are trying to lock down London during the Olympics.

And the public will be spoon fed that much dear, they will sleep walk, into the Government imposing Draconian laws banning everyone from protesting, or doing anything the authorities deemed to bring down London during them, or which might cause embarrassment to London.

reply to post by Laurauk


What are you talking about. It even happens when there is NO Olympics. These are two different topics.
Our trains crash because people steal important wiring. This is no fair mongering. There is just a reason to have a lot of international attention to it right now due to the Olympics.

reply to post by Laurauk


what planet are you on ???????????

scotish metal theft 1

scotish metal theft 1

scotish metal theft 3

its not fear mongering or " lockdown " its a multi million pound a year drain on our ecconomy - a drain that affects YOU too - every pound spent replacing stomen cable and repairing damage comes from your taxes and your utility bills

and is not being spent on upgrades and improvements in services - just keeping the system functioning

yes scrapping is getting out of hand every where. in my community a scrap yard reoprened last year after being shutdown for 20 years there are no jobs in my community so all the young men steal everything that is not bolted down. i had to sheet metal sheds in my back yard that had electricity run to them the boys came by one week end while i was out of town and stripped all the sheet metal from them and tried to steal well pump out of one of them the law did absolutely nothing about it.

reply to post by ignorant_ape

no one seems to have the political spine to actually take any meaningfull , ie draconian action to address it

Meaningful = draconian eh? I'd hate to be subjected to meaningful sex with you! Question: did hanging, cutting people's hands off or transporting them to Australia stop theft?

I don't know about the UK but in the US the cops place the value of the metal at what the thieves got for it at a scrap dealer.

The charges in most cases because of this are just misdemeanors(less then $500) when in many cases the true damages to replace and repair the damage runs well over $5000. a felony.

www.agcrime.net...