Councils need to take metal thefts ‘more seriously’, BMRA says

The BMRA made the call on the back of a report earlier this year from All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Metal, Stone and Heritage Crime.

This inquiry found that, over the past 10 years, metal theft has cost the UK economy an estimated £4.3 billion. Commuters suffered 72,000 minutes/50 days of delay in 2022 because railway signalling or overhead cables, containing high-value copper, had been stolen.

The Home Office and local authorities are seemingly completely disengaged with the issue

• James Kelly, BMRA

‘Action’

In a statement yesterday, the BMRA outlined that the Home Office is “completely disengaged” with the spiralling problem of metal theft.

The BMRA also said local authorities need to take the issue far more seriously.

Calling for urgent action, James Kelly, the chief executive of the BMRA, said: “The data shared in the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Metal, Stone and Heritage Crime makes for sobering reading. It clearly shows the scourge of metal theft is an ongoing problem.

“Operators willing to look the other way and buy stolen metal are being emboldened by the lack of enforcement of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act thereby offering a disposal route for thieves. While groups such as the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership is doing great work to tackle metal theft, the Home Office and Local Authorities are seemingly completely disengaged with the issue.”

Organised crime

The report also found that up to 60 organised crime groups are currently actively conducting metal thefts and account for the majority of metal theft crime.

In 2022 alone, one organisation suffered 334 incidents of cable theft – totalling losses of £5.3m.

Yet there were just 229 prosecutions between 2018 and 2022 for scrap metal dealer offences, the BMRA outlined.

Mr Kelly added: “We need the Home Office to recognise the seriousness of the issue and to act.”