Selling scrap metal for cash could go the way of the rag and bone man if a proposal from the utilities and transport industries is adopted as the latest tactic against scrap metal thieves.

Lobbyists from the energy and transport sectors want the Government to amend the 1964 Scrap Metal Dealers Act, so that dealers could no longer pay for scrap with cash, The Times has learnt. The plan is part of a crackdown on rogue scrap metal dealers and will be proposed to the Home Office early next year.

At the same time, the Association of Chief Police Officers is trying to set up a national taskforce to deal with the theft of scrap metal, which is increasing again after peaking last summer.

A Network Rail spokesman said that a combination of increasing metal prices and rising unemployment had contributed to a notable increase in metal thefts from the railway this year. The main target for thefts is copper cable, which is taken from the side of the track, including from live lines.

Since April there have been more than 300 thefts from the railway, which have cost Network Rail more than £5 million.

The Energy Networks Association (ENA), which represents National Grid Transco and other electricity and gas network owners, confirmed that its members were reporting that thefts from networks and substations were on the increase again.

“This isn’t just a cost issue. In our business this is a real safety issue and could endanger our employees and our customers,” the ENA said.

The association believes that organised crime is behind many thefts because often several substations are hit at the same time. Some figures put the cost of metal thefts to the economy as high as £360 million.

Other industries have reported thefts of metal equipment, including the brewing industry, which has launched a Keg Watch programme, and supermarkets, which have had trollies and metal carts stolen.

Britain has a thriving metal recycling industry and is the world’s fifth-biggest exporter of scrap metal. Most of the metal stolen in this country eventually finds its way to China.The problem is likely to worsen next year if metals prices recover as the global economy pulls out of recession.

Since 2006, there have been 2,500 thefts from Network Rail property, which have cost the rail group £22 million and caused a million minutes of delay. The North East is worstaffected; theft from the railway is the third-biggest cause of delay to passengers. Nationally, metal thefts are among the top ten causes of rail delays.

The rail group uses its two helicopters to look for suspicious acitivities and has even managed to identity-tag its copper cable by pressing the Network Rail name through the cable, like a stick of rock. “The only way the thieves can remove our name now is to melt it down, which they don’t have the capacity to do,” a Network Rail spokesman said.

In a recent pilot scheme in Doncaster and Sheffield, South Yorkshire, British Transport Police worked closely with scrap metal dealers. Dealers registered with the police, who could then check their books for information on purchases, creating an audit trail of metal.

According to the British Transport Police, most thefts are opportunistic and have occurred because criminals see it as an easy way to get cash. By alerting dealers to the danger of getting caught with stolen goods, they hope to take away the demand for goods that are not bona fide scrap.

The British Metal Recycling Association (BMRA), which represents scrap metal merchants, said that it was working closely with police and it urged industries that used metals to protect them in the same way they would any high value asset.

A spokesman for the association said: “The BMRA is working closely with all relevant authorities and industry sectors on the issue of metal theft to quantify the issue and find solutions that are proportionate to the size of the problem.

“The BMRA runs a theft alert system, through which details of stolen metals can be circulated to members within 24 hours. The service has already led to the return of significant amounts of metal and the arrest of the thieves concerned, in several parts of the country.”

Heavy metal

Scrap metal prices (per tonne)

Scrap Lead

June 2008: £700 Nov 2009: £800

Heavy Copper

June 2008: £3,200 Nov 2009: £3,000

Zinc mixed scrap

June 2008: £600 Nov 2009: £400

18/8 stainless steel solids

June 2008: £1,100 Nov 2009: £900

Source: letsrecycle.com

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