Copper thieves cause commuter delays by stealing from rail lines

ORGANISED crime gangs targeting valuable copper are causing the equivalent of 72,000 minutes or 50 days of delays on the railways every year.

Soaring metal theft from signalling cable and overhead power lines is adding to the crippling disruption and costly delays being suffered by millions of commuters and passengers, a group of MPS has warned.

Metal theft has surged in recent years with a new report by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on metal, stone and heritage crime estimating it has cost the UK economy more than £4.3 billion in the past decade.

A string of examples highlighted in the report reveals the human cost of the metal theft epidemic. In August 2022, the theft of a huge quantity of cable on the line between Great Harrowden and Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire, resulted in more than 120 hours of delays for commuters

Last February, thieves hit the Tyne and Wear Metro twice within 24 hours, resulting in services having to be suspended for long periods.

And in April last year, commuters in the Midlands suffered days of disruption after the theft of metal caused signalling cables to catch fire between Shrewsbury and Telford.

But it is not just the railways proving lucrative hunting grounds for criminals, with the APPG report highlighting big rises in other forms of metal theft.

Gangs are known to regularly strip church roofs of their lead, causing millions of pounds worth of damage to historic places of worship: almost six and a half thousand thefts involving lead were reported last year.

Criminals have also taken to stealing manhole lids, making roads unsafe. In 2022, one gang in Doncaster made off with 120 drain covers in only four days. Another favourite target for the thieves are broadband and electricity cables, resulting in internet outages and power cuts. Last year, about 200 people had to be moved out of a block of flats in Bradford, West Yorkshire, after thieves removed power cables rendering the building a fire hazard.

In recent years, criminals have also turned their attention to stealing catalytic converters from cars, with the number of cases soaring by more than 170 per cent from 10,049 in 2013 to 27,195 last year.

Criminals carrying baseball bats and angle grinders brazenly hit residential neighbourhoods stripping scores of cars in a matter of hours. Desperate to obtain the extremely valuable palladium, rhodium and platinum, contained in catalytic converters, thieves have even been known to disguise themselves as workmen and hit hospital car parks.

But MPS, who carried out a wide-ranging review into the problem, warn the number of crimes are not being matched by successful prosecutions, with only 229 cases brought to court between 2018 and 2022.

It is thought the vast majority of offences are carried out by home grown rather than overseas organised crime groups with the illicit metal being sold on to dealers. The MPS are now calling for a Home Office-led working group to be established in a bid to tackle the crime epidemic.

Andrew Selous MP, the chair of the APPG, said that despite metal theft being pervasive across society, when it was reported it was usually recorded as a “non-dwelling burglary”, which meant it was difficult to easily ascertain the true scale of the crime.

He continued: “We found there are great efforts, by single actors to prevent and reduce metal theft, but that in parts of central and local government, metal theft is not prioritised as highly as it should be.”