As reported earlier in the year, there is a growing epidemic amongst thieves in the UK with metal theft numbering at least 1,000 cases a week nationwide. This figure is double what it had been five years ago and in just the first 10 months of 2011 there had been 60,000 cases already reported.
According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, the areas which have seen the highest number of thefts have been Nottinghamshire, Kent, Lancashire and County Durham. To date, thefts have topped 2,500 and that was just in the first three quarters of the year.
Especially hard hit are churches, where the number of thefts has more than doubled within the past few years and thieves are doing untold amounts of damage to historical buildings during their attempt at robbing metal. Also highly targeted are community centres and railway lines.
The growing problem is said to be a result of a stagnant economy and lack of work. Added to that is the fact that the price of scrap metal is going up quite quickly which is making stolen metal a lucrative business for thieves. Clergymen and police are calling for stricter regulations on the industry (scrap metal) which they believe would at least curtail the number of annual thefts.
In many cases the damage these thieves are leaving behind is much greater than the worth of the metals they are stealing. It is also a danger to the public when thieves are pulling up rails on railways and with thieves becoming more and more desperate to take advantage of these currently high prices, authorities see it getting worse before any real change is made to regulations of the industry.
At this moment it is believed that even these record numbers of thefts which have been reported are nowhere near accurate as there is a general lack of standard record keeping. No one knows the true depth of the problem, but what is known is already serious enough.
