You cannot fail to have read in the papers or seen reports on the television that there has been a staggering increase in the number of metal thefts during the past year.

These heartless crimes have involved plaques from war memorials and gravestones and the roofs from churches, as well as crimes which have a huge impact on our everyday life, ranging from theft of Network Rail cables, which causes massive disruption to the travelling public to BT cables which have caused the loss of emergency care lines to sheltered housing schemes and the interruption of communications systems to the fire, police and ambulance services as well as the coastguards and RNLI.

Neighbourhoud Watch members have an important role to play in tackling this abhorrent crime, by being alert to every suspicious incident in their street and reporting these incidents to the police.

Many of these crimes would stop overnight if there was no ready market for their ill-gotten gains.  Ninety percent of transactions in scrap metal yards is by cash.  Record keeping is non-existent and no questions are asked.  Existing legislation is very weak and goes back to the Scrap Metal Dealers Act of 1964.  Maximum fines are very low.

Neighbourhood Watch is urging the government to move towards a cashless business model for scrap metal dealers.  There will be exceptions to every model, but legislation which gives robust powers to police and local authorities, accompanied by powers of temporary closure given to Police Superintendents and powers of closures and confiscation of assets given to magistrates, will give legitimacy to genuine businesses and put the cowboys out of business.

You are therefore encouraged to sign an online e-petition which would cause a parliamentary debate on the subject which would be another step on the route towards legislation which would be effective.  The website to sign the petition can be found at

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/406