Brian Souter Calls On Authorities To Clamp Down On Metal Thieves

Added: (Tue Jan 24 2012)

Pressbox (Press Release) - Sir Brian Souter, the chief executive of Stagecoach Group Plc and founder of Souter Investments has called on the authorities to clamp down on metal theft.
Sir Brian Souter said, “The organized theft of metals is having a huge impact on the rail industry and its passengers, as well as on other critical aspects of the national infrastructure,” Souter said in an e-mailed statement on Jan. 3. “As well as the human cost of disruption, criminal activity in this area is now so damaging to our wider economy that we simply must act.”
Thieves in the U.K. are stealing sculptures, copper cabling from railroad tracks, church roofs, bells, manhole covers and even hospital equipment as demand increases for metals on the world’s commodities markets.
Rail-related metal theft rose to a record 2,627 incidents last year, up 9.6 percent from 2010, the British Transport Police said. Network Rail, the operator of the U.K.’s railways, estimates it has lost 43 million pounds in compensation and repair costs in England, Scotland and Wales since 2009.
Scrap metal is a £5 billion industry and the government has recently announced plans which they hope will curb the abundance of illegal trading of scrap metal. In plans announced by Home Office Minister Lord Henley, sellers would have to undergo identity checks and cash transactions could be banned.