Pssssttt...wanna buy some cheap cable..?

[dogduke]

e-mail tonight from 'ar kid'Not only just a prob in this country -"no policemen hurt. no problems in jail. no attorney. no jury.............justice.Downtown Dallas...copper thieves were trying to pull a 13,200 volt live wire out of a conduit.Note the bolt cutter and the copper wire on the ground.WELL DONE - both of them"I have spared you the gruesome snaps.

[jonleeds]

These scrap metal thieves are an absolute scourge and its about time the goverment stopped this unlicensed and unregulated trade. So-called legitimate scrap yards are the ones who are funding the theft of all this copper cable / lead from church roofs etc because if there was no outlet for the thieves to sell their stolen goods to then they wouldnt do it in the first place. These companies claim to self-regulate by taking the details of peoples vehicles / names and addresses of people who weigh in metals. But in reality this system is a joke. More often than not they dont even ask you. I have weighed in legitimate metal from my dads building firm and only once in the past 15 years have I ever been asked for my details. Plus I could have said I was micky mouse and that would have sufficed. They dont ask for proof of ID or anything. Its just that its so damn easy to do that its virtually irresistable to a lot of thieves. I know of many people who are class A drug addicts who collect scrap as a means of feeding their habits. Due to the rocketing prices of all scrap metals it has become like a gold rush over the past 5 years and whereas several years ago you might have had one or two local 'Rag and Bone' men operating in a local area, nowadays there are dozens of scrap metal recyclers / waste carriers exploiting the boom in scrap metal. Everyday where I live I see at least a dozen different flat bed Ford Transit pick-ups with a couple of shady looking lads in the cab driving around my area. Most of the time the tipper section at the back of the truck is loaded up with metal items from mountain bikes to gas barbeques, garden furniture and even wroght iron gates. Most of this stuff is way too good to be scrapped. These people more often that not dont ask if they can take items from peoples gardens, and in the daytime the majority of people are away from their homes and at work - so its open season on any metal items you leave in your garden whether its junk or not. Personally in the last year I had my GT Avalanche mountain bike stolen from my girlfriends front garden where it was securely chained to a sturdy cast iron drainpipe, and under the porch. It was stolen in broad daylight in the middle of the day while I was at work and the thieves had used a set of bolt-croppers to try and snip through the heavy duty chain. This failed and they went for the padlock with the bolt-cutters. All that remained was the broken padlock and damaged chain. I reported it to the police who just said it was most likely 'Kids'....!! Well I'm sorry but I dont know many kids who walk around in the daytime carrying a large set of heavy bolt-cutters!! Clearly whoever stole my beloved bike was prepared to steal and was equipped to do so. And its not like the bike was there all the time, it was only the second time I'd taken it to my girlfriends. Anyway none of the neighbours saw any kids stealing or riding away on my bike but the lady a few doors down saw 2 scruffy looking guys loading a cooker from her neighbours garden into the back of a pick-up truck. I mentioned this to the police but they werent interested. Now my bike cost over £499 and I bought it brand new out of some inheritance money my late grandmother had left for me. It was the best bike I had ever owned and it was my primary mode of transport. I felt stunned that it was stolen. My girlfriend had no house insurance as it was a council house so I couldnt claim for a new bike. Thats what makes me feel so sick as well, these scumbags are not fussy who they steal from, rich or poor we are all fair game.I managed to get another bike by putting a 'Wanted' notice on that Freegle website, but its a tatty old bike that is not in the same league as my GT mountain bike that had suspension / disc brakes etc. At least it is unlikely to get stolen again!It just beggars believe that in the face of whats going on - theft on a grand scale, railway signalling cable stolen and delaying the railway network that the government arent bringing in some regulation for this industry. Sorry to babble on anyway, its just when I start thinking about this issue I get really mad cos of my bicycle been stolen in all likelyhood by these type of people.

[Scrumpy]

How petty can you get? 2 days ago, the outside tap at the back of my house, which I use for washing the car, was unscrewed and nicked. Would you get more than a few pence for this? It's pathetic.

[jonleeds]

I guess it was brass eh? probably taking one out of everyones garden that has one, weigh em in at the end of the day, if they had 20-30 thats probably enough for a bag of smack. Its ludicrous that scrapyards are what amounts to fences, they are buying and dealing in stolen metal with no regards to the misery its causing people or the damage thats been done to property - both public and private. I mean there was recently a story in the paper about a WAR MEMORIAL statue that was stolen!!! It was worth over £10,000 yet some thieving scum will weigh it in for scrap bronze, probably defacing it first with a sledgehammer and cutting it into lumps with a stihl saw. But the places that turn a blind eye and buy this stuff are every bit as guilty as the cretins who steal it. These arent isolated incidents either, its happening every single day all over the country - and world it seems from the post above!Madness....