Organised crime gangs are thought to be behind a huge rise in metal thefts across Greater Manchester. There have been 3,372 recorded incidents over the last six months – compared to 1,482 in the twelve months from April 2008.
It means the region has one of the highest rates of metal thefts in the country. Thieves have targeted church roofs, schools, homes, railways, phone lines, chimney stacks, grids, manhole covers and memorial plaques.
They have stolen lead, copper, iron, steel, bronze and aluminium. The scrap value of these metals have rocketed over the last few years because of an insatiable demand from China and India.
Recent incidents include:
- Lead being stripped from the roofs of twelve homes on one street in Clayton, Manchester, while owners slept - click here for story.
- Gangs with power tools posing as British Telecom workmen and slicing open phone junction boxes to steal copper
- Lead stolen from the roof of Mossley Fire Station in Tameside
- Lead stripped from the historic Elizabeth Gaskell house in Ardwick, Manchester, leaving a bill of £700,000
The thieving spree has cost millions and brought misery to people across the region. There have been rail delays, phone lines cut and communities left with huge bills. Churches in Manchester last year had more lead thefts than any other area in Britain.
British Transport Police say that to date 2011 has seen 'unprecedented' levels of thefts from rail lines with 1,151 in the first four and a half months of the year.
Now, Greater Manchester Police, BTP, United Utilities, British Telecom , Network Rail and Crimestoppers have joined together to fight the problem. They are calling for regulations surrounding scrap dealers to be tightened. There are also lobbying for tougher sentences for metal thieves.
A police source said: "The number of thefts indicates a level of organisation. Criminals know how lucrative this is."
BT say that poles, overhead and underground cables have been targeted in 80 thefts or attempted thefts of copper since April. Failsworth, Collyhurst, and Cheetham Hill, are the areas worst hit. Metal theft is estimated to cost UK industry approximately £770m annually and the crime cost the rail industry £43m in 2010 alone.
Chief Inspector, Rachel Buckle, from GMP said: "We are targeting not only the thieves, but those who move stolen metal on." Bernie Auguste, head of security for Openreach, the service division of BT, said: "Cable theft affects people who rely on access to phones and broadband. It can leave the vulnerable with reduced access."
Deputy Chief Constable Paul Crowther, who heads the Association of Chief Police Officers' metal theft working group, said: "When thieves steal lead from residential properties it is the householders that suffer – when they steal from a school or church hundreds of people are potentially affected.
"That number increases dramatically when criminals target cabling – particularly rail, power and communications – which can deprive thousands of people of transport links and vital utilities."
Call to beat phone line raiders
COPPER thieves have targeted phone lines on an industrial estate five times so far this year.
Seventeen companies have been hit on the Crown Business Centre in Failsworth, Oldham.
The latest theft was of nearly 400-feet of cable. John Yarwood, owner of electronic manufacturing firm Data Design said: "Everyone is fed up. No one really knows the true impact this is having on our companies as there is no way of knowing how many calls and emails we are missing."
Businesses on the George Street estate were forced to rely on their mobiles while phone lines are down.
Geoff Kerfoot, from neighbouring CST Automatic, said: "There is a huge loss of revenue as people are trying to get through on the line. It's disgusting."
A spokeswoman for BT said: "We are working with the police and other organisations who are also affected by this type of crime."
Move to change law to crackdown on the rogue traders
SCRAP yards are where thieves head to make a quick buck. Police are now in talks with the Home Office to tighten up the law.
One possibility is that police could be given the power to take away a scrap dealer's licence which is issued by local authorities. Another option to make it compulsory for dealers to require proof of identity from people who sell them metal. Currently, dealers only have to ask for a name and record it. British Transport Police are visiting all scrap yards to ‘educate’ dealers about accepting stolen goods.
A BTP spokesman said: "The majority of scrap dealers are law-abiding but there is a small number who are not. We have issued cable guides with images identifying cable used by different organisations.
"Sometimes a dealer may have taken metal in good faith and it can be difficult to say where it has come from.
"But if it has markings on it clearly indicating its source, we would take action."
Police can seize metal and prosecute dealers for handling stolen goods.
BTP have taken thieves to court for metal theft and also conspiracy to steal cable, which carries a longer sentence.
Last year, two men were jailed for two years after cable thefts in and around Warrington. They made only a few hundred pounds from the theft but the cost to Network Rail was £8.5m as the crime severely disrupted the West Coast mainline.
A BTP spokesman said: "Despite these record prices, cable thieves make very little money in relative terms to the copper they steal. They do not receive anything close to the true value."
Even scrap dealers are falling victim
SCRAP metal dealers themselves are being targeted by thieves.
A spokesman for the British Metals Recycling Association, which has 300 members, said: "Our members have been victims themselves.
"Thieves will steal metal from their yards, and transfer it to unregulated yards who then export it.
"Our members adhere to a code of conduct.
"They have CCTV systems on the premises, request identification from people they do not know, and are required
under the Scrap Metal Act of 1964 to maintain accurate records.
"We believe that the police and Environment Agency have sufficient enforcement powers now to deal with the the issue of metal thieves but the problem is one of resources.
"We would like to see them have more resources to target the illegal yards."
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anyone dealing with a scrap metal merchant should have a formal trading account and should only be paid by cheque or credit, not cash, doing bussiness formally that way would soon make these dreggs dissapear
A group is lobbying for tougher sentences for metal theives - no chance! It's yet another nice income stream for the greedy lawyers to exploit. It's a 'harmless' crime in that victims are not physically injured even if there is damage to property. Lawyers & judges justify the low sentences by the belief that people are insured (well that makes it alright then!)
A return to the birch would cause crime to plumet, there's no chance of that, or anything else effective while we are ruled by politicians who are populated by large number of the legal profession.
If your caught stealing metal then two weeks in the 'cooler' - the government does not instigate a strong enough deterrent. There is an argument that more money is spent handling repeat offenders, crime, insurance, police, CPS, court system than would have been spent keeping them locked up. So, keep them locked up it is financially cheaper
and safer for the rest of the civilised world.
They've obviously been at their nefarious work here in Number 10.
I again awoke to find all of my pocket shrapnel gone - and I had planned on giving it away in tips to poor people.
Samantha has a new hat.
"the police and Environment Agency have sufficient enforcement powers now to deal with the the issue of metal thieves but the problem is one of resources."
how true, there are not the staff to enforce the rules laws ans regs, lawlessnes is government policy and part of cameron's and his party's big society policy.
Why not force the scrap dealers to hold any scrap given them for a week before any payment is made then if a theft is reported then it should be easily traceable at one of the dealers. Any scrap dealers not following the law should be closed down.
if someone tries to scrap manhole covers or memorial plaques why are the police
not called by the scrap merchants,
LOL Everyones a Wally especially you.
Err can I way in this Manhole Cover, Grid, No Entry sign with post and these six street signs, Yeah they're all mine honest Guv.
Why is it that the publicity hungry Chief constable Peter Fahy and Deputy Chief constable Paul Crowther have to have their names in every news article in the city. Concentrate on getting your own incompetant officers in line first before spending every day working out which news article you can get in next. Then maybe our police force won't be so USELESS
This is the tip of the iceberg.When you have no proper penal system these gangs will have no fear of being caught. The UK is a simmering cesspool of lowlife and people only in the Country to exploit it.The Judges do not help,ie the scumbag let off again for stealing money by claiming he was doing a parachute jump for charity and then the case of Murdochs foam pie assailent getting six weeks.You have to move with the times.
These people are stripping metal from a Country whose own Government has assett stripped it.
No Police,no education,no pride.
Who gives a flying fish anymore?
Decent people do,but we are all let down by are so called peers.
Where do these stolen manhole covers go? Why they're melted down, transported to the manufacturing hub of China and ... errr ... made into manhole covers.
As said before make everyone dealing in the trade use formal methods.
I can only see this worsening as the economy worsens in the future.
Jamie
I agree with people having to have permits to deal with scrap metal merchants. I had some people knock on yesterday asking for metal - I took them into my garden and felt quite uncomfortable as they were eying up everything including my deckchairs. Wont be doing that again - but did get rid of an old hamster cage and a sink.
The scrap metal merchants handling this metal, which is easily recognisable, are just as criminal as the thieves. But if they are allowed to carry on their dubious business without being targeted by the police it will never stop. Hit both thieves and dealers VERY HARD.
Your forgetting that all respectable Scrap Dealers will do as much checking as possible for the ID of the people bringing in the lead/copper etc. Its the illegal dealers that need to be shut down. Like the dealers and handlers of stolen goods from car thieves and burglaries. You can have as much legislation as you want but with all the illegal handlers of stolen goods it doesn't matter how much legislation you have.
It's like the the people how use guns for farming, target practice they have been squeezed by law after law yet whilst they have been following the law there has never been more gun crime by criminals and illegal gunsmiths abound.
The problem is that even when the people are caught the sentences are not stiff enough even if they get a prison sentence its only a matter of months and in the mean time they are making thousands from all the thieving they are doing.
I would have thought by now that due to the large number of thefts, manhole covers and grid covers would have been out of a high impact plastic filled with a non metallic ballast such as sand or concrete, thus rendering them worthless to this thieving scum.
Just a thought.
Scrap metal merchants are largely bent.
Perhaps we could have some kind of force to police this. We could call it the Force Police or something!
I reported theft of manhole covers and a children s climbing frame. The police arrived and the culprits waved a letter saying they had permission from Urban Vision to remove all metal from the site which is under development. I told the police the land is actually owned by Salford Education and NOT Urban Vision, but the police were not interested. Obviously the letter was forged. Also pointed out was if it is the case Salford Council would have to use a registered waste carrier and not a few men with a car and trailer
It has been reported that these thefts have occured over the last 3 nights. Which begs the questin what are th police doing about this? Can a police chief actually put cops on the street to catch these people rather than just standing in front of the cameras and lying through their teeth that this is a high priority. It is not a high priority, as if it is then the theives would have been caught by now. They wont do anythng about it as it is a council estate and the cops couldn't care about them. They only care about stopping cars for no seat belts etc as that brings in fines. Come on cops prove you actually do work and catch these theives. If the council could I would be asking no demanding what on earth GMP are doing about this and other crime which they refer to as 'low level, petty crime'. Strnage they could spare a large number of cops to police the Man City training event yesterday yet you can never get a cop to arrest criminals who must be laughing at them after targetting the same street 3 nights on the run.
Before i start i`d like to mention i`m no fan of the conservatives,but Cameron is getting flack for scum bags nicking manhole covers, you were all enjoying the party living on the plastic when labour were in. And now the well has run dry and its all down to Cameron what jokers .....
Lets just forget the story, call each other names and dish out insults, after all, my Dads harder than your Dad.
How can it be classed as "scrap metal", when it is still in use when stolen????.