Government need to act on cable theft

Early this evening I happened to watch an item about cable theft on the regional news. I learnt that the Metropolitan Police have set up a task force in an attempt to tackle the problem. I already knew from work with South West Trains, Network Rail and British Transport Police that they are putting extra resource into dealing with this serious crime that led to up to six hour delays for passengers during SWT Jam last June; is costing the country £700 million a year and led to operations being cancelled in Wales last week and roads being plunged into darkness in Yorkshire.

I received a message from a friend a little before 11pm tonight telling me there was a power cut affecting parts of St Johns, Hook Heath and Mount Hermon. The cause - attempted cable theft. Thankfully it appears the power cut out before any cable could be removed and a loud bang sent the thieves running. Power was back on within an hour or so.

As the price of copper has soared on global markets thieves are attempting to steal cables containing copper from signal boxes on the railways, electricity sub-stations and street lighting cable.  Copper can then be sold on the black market.  Copper is being sold for around $9,000 a tonne so is an attractive commodity.

So much money is being lost, so many are being affected, so much resource is going into dealing with this issue. The government needs to do what many have called for and license scrap dealers. This will close the market for illegally obtained copper and solve much of the problem.