Scrap Metal thieving.

[Shallot Man]

Scrap metal thieves are wrecking allotments as gangs ransack plots
By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 12:28 AM on 21st January 2012

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Allotment holders are being forced to give up their cherished patches due to a surge in thefts by scrap metal thieves.
Gangs have ransacked plots and stolen thousands of pounds worth of gardening equipment in raids across the country blamed on rising metal prices.
The thieves have also attacked animals left on the sites.
Ransacked: Thieves are on the hunt for garden tools as metal prices in the UK continue to rise
Last week, allotments in Muswell Hill, north London, were targeted twice. All 84 sheds and outhouses were broken into as the site was stripped of anything metal – nearly every pot, kettle and pan were taken.
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It is the sixth time the site has been targeted in the past year.
Alwyn Pritchard, 63, who has tended his plot there for 20 years, said: ‘We have been left with nothing. They had already taken anything valuable such as the strimmers and cultivators.
Stolen: Gardening tools are being taken and animals harmed in some cases
‘This time they cut off copper water pipes and brass taps and took them.’ Allotments in neighbouring Hendon have been broken into four times in a year.
Police forces across the UK have issued warnings to allotment owners to be aware of the growing problem. But they add it is not just metal being taken.
In Barry, Wales, two rabbits had to be put down after they were burned and kicked on New Year’s Day. The thieves also attacked a duck with a crowbar.
In Basingstoke, Hampshire, 12 racing pigeons worth £1,000 were stolen on Boxing Day.
Donna McDaid, secretary of the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, said some members are now walking away from their plots.
‘Having plots broken into over and over again is soul-destroying,’ she said. ‘When it keeps happening, it is too much for some people – they give up.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1k5eMBF5E

[alan refail]

I suspect this is going to crop up more and more. We have been there recently

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=10393

Even if there is a clamp-down on scrap metal dealers, I doubt whether it will have much effect on determined thieves. And the more the government cuts benefits the more opportunist thieves there will be

[Shallot Man]

I hope readers will not mind me repeating advice given to me some years ago by one of the old time coppers, if say twenty sheds etc are broken into. Insist on twenty crime reports and crime numbers, this will fowl up the crime stats, and Might get some results.

[peter]

Hertfordshire police will only accept crime reports from the.owner of specific property, so each shed owner would have to file a report or nothing would be recorded.

Amused me.how they were unable to cope with my resulting question, "So if I see a vandal smashing the police station window I could only report it if I was the Chief Constable?"

[Brandon Samaris]

Hi there!
I guess, there are more than enough reliable scrap dealers offering reasonable prices for every piece of scrap metal. Check some info here http://metalscraps.co.uk/news-10-tips-t ... ler-9.html
The more we refer to legal dealers, the bigger effect it has on the illegal scrap business. I agree with the fact that the government should leave more benefits for legal scrap business, otherwise there will be more and more thieves.