Battling to beat metal thieves
The fight against metal thieves who are costing Black Country businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds each week has been stepped up as the raids reach epidemic levels. The fight against metal thieves who are costing Black Country businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds each week has been stepped up as the raids reach epidemic levels. Gangs have also been targeting homes, community centres and even churches in recent months to steal precious copper, metal and lead and then sell it on for a small fortune to unscrupulous scrap merchants. Business owners in Wolverhampton have now joined with the city's police and MPs to launch a task force, after one insurance broker revealed the firm was dealing with up to £200,000 worth of metal thefts each week. Read the full story in the Express & Star.
Gangs have also been targeting homes, community centres and even churches in recent months to steal precious copper, metal and lead and then sell it on for a small fortune to unscrupulous scrap merchants.
Business owners in Wolverhampton have now joined with the city's police and MPs to launch a task force, after one insurance broker revealed the firm was dealing with up to £200,000 worth of metal thefts each week.
Richard Cox, of Stourbridge-based KJG Insurance Brokers, revealed the level of claims to the recently formed Wolverhampton Business Crime Task Group.
The group is now calling on businesses to report all incidents of metal thefts in a bid to combat the problem.
In one case alone, thieves got away with £130,000 of stainless steel while in another, two security guards were left so traumatised they quit their jobs.
Kelvin Hartshorne, from Wolverhampton City Council's economic development department, said it would be easier to persuade organisations like the regional development agency Advantage West Midlands to back crime-busting projects if the real scale of the attacks was known.
Wolverhampton South West MP Pat McFadden said: "This is a very serious issue and these sorts of crimes are being driven by a sharp rise in the price of metal and it is an issue nationwide."
The scale of the problem comes following a spate of thefts, including 10 pensioners' homes in Tettenhall, having their windows stripped of lead, while Uplands Junior School, Finchfield, had the metal taken from its roof.
