[guide.chat] news scotland thieves steal railway lines
- From: vanessa <qwerty1234567a@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "GUIDE CHAT" <guide.chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 11:33:55 -0000
Thieves steal over £1m worth of metal from Scotland's railways in last three
years
Jan 2 2012
British Transport Police
OVER £1 million of metal has been stolen from Scotland's railways within the
last three years.
Figures obtained from British Transport Police (BTP) revealed over 300
incidents of metal theft between April 2008 and October last year.
Vital equipment required to ensure the safe and efficient running of the
railway was taken in a third of cases.
More than £250,000 worth was taken in just two hauls.
The most costly theft was £150,000 of rail weighing 70 tons taken from Greenock
West on October 20 last year.
A heavier haul was taken in Roybridge, in the Highlands, on April 23 2010 - 125
tons of rail was stolen at a cost of £125,000.
BTP officers believe heavy goods vehicles were involved in both thefts, which
are still under investigation. They were the seventh and ninth most costly
thefts in the whole of the UK.
Motherwell - home of the football team dubbed The Steelmen - was the worst-hit
town in Scotland.
Motherwell Station and Motherwell train depot saw 11 incidents each, while
£1,500 of armoured cable was stolen from Motherwell signalling centre.
Lanarkshire as a whole accounted for over a quarter of all incidents, with
multiple thefts in Caldercruix (10); Wishaw (10); Ravenscraig (9); Carstairs
(7); Uddingston (6); Croy (4); Holytown (4); Rutherglen (4); Stepps (4);
Abington (3); Bargeddie (3); Carluke (3) and Airdrie (2).
More than £40,000 of cable was taken from Carstairs in three separate incidents
over three days in late January 2010.
BTP said it regularly uses Network Rail's helicopter to patrol Lanarkshire
skies as part of its "heightened" activity in the area.
Elsewhere, over £30,000 each was taken in single hauls in Bathgate,
Bishopbriggs and Govan Subway Depot; while Aberdeen, Millerhill, Perth and
Bishopbriggs saw single thefts worth more than £20,000.
The BTP spokesman said the force works closely with environmental, transport
and tax agencies, utility companies, and local forces.
He said: "During our regular days of action, at least once a month, scrap metal
dealers are visited and vehicles which may be carrying stolen cable and metal
are stopped and searched at multi-agency checkpoints."
He added: "There is a constant free-flow sharing of intelligence with other
police forces and other agencies.
"There is also regular training for all police forces and partner agencies,
delivered by BTP.
"The Scotland area of BTP's dedicated Metal Theft Team visits scrap metal
dealers somewhere in Scotland on a daily basis and as a consequence stolen rail
has not been discovered at a scrap metal dealer in Scotland for some time."
On December 14, a man was charged with stealing cable 10 years ago in Wishaw,
while last month Stuart Hoey, 36, was sentenced to six months for cable theft
in the same town.
Robert Wright, 46, now an ex-employee of Babcock Rail, received 200 hours
community service and a £1,000 compensation order for stealing scrap rail from
Carmont level crossing last year.
In May, three people were arrested for stealing £40,000 of cable which caused
over £200,000 of damage.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "We work closely with the police and other
agencies to do all we can to protect the network - investing around £2 million
each year to fund extra BTP officers, CCTV, forensic marking techniques and
other technology."
The top 10 most costly incidents were:
:: 20/10/2011Greenock West £150,000
:: 23/04/2010Roy Bridge £125,000
:: 31/07/2008Bathgate £35,000
:: 24/03/2011Bishopbriggs £35,000
:: 25/08/2008Govan Subway Depot £32,000
:: 28/10/2010Aberdeen £26,676
:: 08/12/2008Millerhill £26,000
:: 21/01/2011Perth £23,629
:: 13/09/2010Bishopbriggs £23,000
:: 27/01/2010Carstairs £19,360
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