Bid to change law to block scrap metal thefts

THE president of an Oxfordshire rail campaign group is aiming to curb the surge in scrap metal thefts by getting the law changed.

Lord Faulkner, who heads the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, wants to make cash transactions for scrap metal illegal.

He has tabled a Private Member’s Bill and a series of amendments in the House of Lords to try to secure a ban.

Metal theft has surged in recent years due to record prices for copper and other metals, combined with a boom in demand in China, India and other Asian countries.

Thefts of copper signal cables have disrupted train services on the Cotswold Line between Oxford and Worcester several times in recent weeks.

Thieves have also struck at other public services and buildings around Oxfordshire in the past year.

Telephone and internet users in Eynsham and Chinnor were cut off this summer when cables were stolen, lead worth 100,000 was stripped from the roof of St Mary’s Church in Warkworth, near Banbury, in August, while schools, churches and council offices were targeted by lead thieves in Abingdon in September.

While the value of the metal stolen may be small, the costs of disruption and repairs can be huge.

The rail industry estimates cable thefts over the past three years have caused 16,000 hours of delays to trains and cost 43m, while the Association of Chief Police Officers says metal thefts cost the UK 770m a year.

Announcing his proposed amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, Lord Faulkner told the House of Lords: “The move to cashless transactions (for scrap) is seen by all the interested parties as an essential step in the process of getting this business under some sort of control.”

As well as banning cash deals for scrap, the peer wants sentencing guidance revised, so courts take into account the cost of disruption and repairs caused by scrap thieves, not just the value of the metal they take.

Scrap merchant Jonathan Smith, of AV Smith and Son, of Frogs Island, off Old Didcot Road, Wallingford, said: “I think cashless transactions would help cut down on the problem of metal thefts. I think it would be a good idea.

“I would like the trade to be as clean as possible.”

He added: “I would love to stop the thieves. It’s not just churches and businesses being raided, 3,500 of metal was stolen from our yard a year ago by someone who came in across the fields.

“But you also need to do something about people who are buying the metal without any checks. I always ask for photograph identification and take details of people’s vehicles, and record every delivery coming into the yard, so everything I buy is there in black and white.”

Oxford East MP Andrew Smith said: “Metal theft is a huge problem, hitting householders, local businesses and churches.