Public transport, railway cable thieves, We Are Watching You, England, UK - message on an engine - Lady Penelope - BTP
The theft of copper cables has cost our railways £43 million in three years – but who does it, and how? Live reveals a shameless confession that will fascinate and appal you – and is also helping an intelligence unit crack down on the crime Commuters heading into London one Tuesday morning last autumn faced a more frustrating journey than usual. A mere 30ft of cabling had been stolen overnight from beside the track outside London Bridge, yet the disruption was staggering – over 1,650 trains were delayed, at a cost to Network Rail of £640,000, and the quiet fury of thousands of paying passengers. It took all day to get the trains running properly again. A few weeks later, another power failure caused a total of 370 hours of delays near Crewe. In both cases, and hundreds more like it, the reason for the power failure was thieves stealing metal cables. It is the widely reported modern plague. In a world thirsty for metals, those contained in power cables are worth ever more on the scrap-metal market. One of the thieves shows a mobile-phone picture of a haul they sold to gypsies for £5,700 One of the thieves shows a mobile-phone picture of a haul they sold to gypsies for £5,700 And in recessionary Britain, the number of people prepared to take the risks to steal it is increasing. It’s why metal thefts have gone up 50 per cent in the past year alone; prices have doubled since 2009. Now the problem costs our economy an estimated £770 million a year. Many of the cables are ripped up in the dead of night from the sides of railways. Mainly copper, some are on huge coils waiting to be fitted; most are in the ground, but redundant; others are live. They are easy to target because they are generally far from homes and people, and there are thousands of miles of track to choose from, which makes them virtually impossible to protect. The investigations are crucial, however, as we are all the metal thieves’ victims.
Size: 5052px × 2772px
Location: Crewe, Cheshire, England, UK
Photo credit: © Tony Smith / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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