bigmommasally Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 I have been sent stir crazy over the last couple of weeks by the loss of our phone and internet due to cable theft. Thieves struck on Monday 8th and stole cable which put our (and around 4000 other) phone lines out, we got the line back 6 days later on Sunday 13th for a few hours, then the thieves struck again that night and put us out again until Wednesday! Local businesses were really badly affected as they couldn't take card payments, people with care alarms in their homes were also affected, for me personally I really struggled without having the internet to hop on each evening - I honestly hadn't realised how much I had come to rely on it - what did I do before I had my laptop? Apparently the thieves use big winches on lorries to pull the cable up so it can't be a quiet operation so somebody must have seen something but probably thought it was legitment repair work going on. http://www.coastalscene24.co.uk/news/essex_copper_thieves_cause_150_000_of_damage_during_cable_raid_1_1124921 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Infuriating, isn't it ? This happened in Chalgrove a few months back and it took BT 10 days to sort out . We even made The Daily Mail (not sure if thats anything to boast about, tho !!) Of course, the Drs was out of action as were all the local businesses. Mobile phone coverage her is really bad in the village; I have to stand on the wall outside our house, but only on the left hand side, to get one bar on the signal thingy . However, our development was on a different wiring schedule so we were incredibly lucky not to get cut off. Surely the police should be contacting dealers and examining their records; this stuff has to be sold on somehow ? I am sure that, if this carries on, at some point somewhere in the country, lives will be in danger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphisto Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 It makes me so annoyed, my Grandad's area was targetted, they were without phones for 8 days. Now, he's 82 and in poor health, it's lucky he had a mobile otherwise, if something had happened to him or if he needed someone urgently, he would have been unable to make contact with any of us. I don't think these loosely called people realise they are putting peoples lives at risk for the sake of making a quick buck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 I've never heard of this before . What a horrible, horrible thing to do - they obviously don't care who they affect, the consequences could be really serious apart from the inconvenience to so many people . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken deficient Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 They took the cables near me last weekend too. We weren't affected, but several villages were. Swines aren't they?! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Isn't it amazing what people will steal,& the lack of regard they show for the inconvenience or danger it can cause others? A few months ago a gang stole all the man hole & drain covers around the village & on the main road,leaving gaping holes which were enough to take a wheel off should you drive down it. There were also several collisions caused by people swerving to avoid the holes too. It's all horrible & purely motivated by greed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyhole kate Posted November 18, 2011 Share Posted November 18, 2011 Sadly there are are people in this world who as my mum used to say would pinch your eyeballs and come back for your lashes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purplemaniacs Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Sadly there are are people in this world who as my mum used to say would pinch your eyeballs and come back for your lashes Never heard that expression before but it is sadly true. Chrissie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sage Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 About 10 years ago I lived in a bungalow I woke one morning to smell gas. During the night somebody had cut & stolen the main copper gas pipe the ran the length of the property. I wase lucky there wasn't an explosion the whole place would have gone up with me inside. Sage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Unbelievable . Thank goodness nothing happened . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohcarolina Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I am involved in Neighbourhood Watch and its all down the price of metal. Please see attached message and if you feel strongly then sign the petition. Hope you don't mind me adding this to the thread - Caroline To all Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch members & coordinators in England & Wales, You cannot have failed to read in the papers or seen reports on the television that there has been a staggering increase in the number of metal thefts in the last year. I would encourage ALL Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch members to sign an online e-petition, which would cause a parliamentary debate on the subject of moving towards a cashless business model for s"Ooops, word censored!" metal dealers. You can sign the petition here: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/406 Many of these crimes would stop overnight if there was no ready market for their ill-gotten gains. Ninety per cent of transactions in s"Ooops, word censored!" metal yards are by cash. Record-keeping is non-existant and no questions are asked. Existing legislation is very weak and goes back to the S"Ooops, word censored!" Metal Dealers Act of 1964. Maximum fines are very low. A cashless model would be another step on the route to effective legislation. 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 closure and confication of assets given to magistrates, will give legitimacy to genuine businesses and put the cowboys out of business. 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 cause 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. Neighbourhood Watch and Home Watch members have a very 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. Those members who live in the vicinity of S"Ooops, word censored!" Metal Dealers' yards should be extra vigilant and report all suspicious movements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I wholeheartedly agree - this is down to regulation of s"Ooops, word censored!" metal dealers. Round here, we too lost all the drain covers which put lives at risk - anyone who's ever ridden a motorcycle will know exactly how dangerous this can be - and of course also costs local council taxpayers for the replacement. The church in my brother's village has had the lead stolen from the roof, it's insured but the parish has to pay an excess. The thieves wouldn't do it if they couldn't sell the metal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyhole kate Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 The lead off the roof of our registry office was pinched recently Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 Houses on our estate have a small bay window with leading on top. Two have been stripped so far - both houses empty due to death of owner in one case & the other going into a care home. There are another hundred sitting ducks and nothing we can do to prevent ourselves being next Metal theft is a huge problem in this part of the country; I agree whole heartedly we need regulations to stop the easy sale of stolen metal & stop these s carrying on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphisto Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I was just thinking of this thread and this isn't the first time I've 'experienced' thefts of metal. When I was in my last job as a surveyor for a housing association, we had a house which was what we termed as a void (an empty house), it had been empty for a day, then the boiler, all the pipework, the gas fire even the sink were stolen. It was an old Victoran terrace and no-one claimed to know anything about it, even though it must have been an extremely noisey operation, and the house was on a busy main road too. So, we had to arrange for everything to go back in.....4 hours after the chaps left after finishing all the work over a few weeks, we had a call from the police, yet again everything had been stripped. My OH is a plumber and central heating installer, he's lost count of the amount of copper piping stolen out of his van. He did some work for free for a charity helping people getting back into houses after various issues (rogue builders, disaster), he did his plumbing for free, in the night all the pipes he laid and all the radiators he put on were taken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 A cemetary recently had repeat thefts of memorial plaques......the s"Ooops, word censored!" value was a measly £50-£60 in total!!!!! .....the replacement cost of each one? - £160 and there were over 200 hundred stolen! It beggars belief! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
memphisto Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 That's horrifically awful.....how can people stoop so low, I'm glad now I've heard that that we opted for a granite plaque for my grandmothers memorial. The poor relatives who've lost someone, paid for plaque and then have it stolen AND have to replace it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowy Posted November 20, 2011 Share Posted November 20, 2011 We had all the lead snaffled of our church's new porch roof last month. It's a small free church, completely paid for by it's 50 or so members, we don't ask for outside donations and the church and it's hall are used for community projects. Cost of a replacement comes out of mine and my friends pockets, not some faceless church organisation Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sammiboo Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 One of my customers is lloyds pharmacy, there was a store in smethwick brum who had their air conditioning pipework work stolen as fast as it was replaced. It cost lloyds thousands Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Our local Rural Watch has its work cut out with this - basically anything that isn't nailed down gets nicked, they even had to close a metal footbridge after the handrails were nicked A friend lives over the small solicitors office where she works and woke up one night to find some scallys nicking the lead off the roof - she got up and let the dogs out, so the louts were stranded on the roof with the hounds snarling below until the police turned up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
