RAIL CABLE THIEVES COSTING YOU £MILLIONS

Tuesday 28 Apr 2009

RAIL CABLE THIEVES COSTING YOU £MILLIONS

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Thieves stealing or damaging railway cables cost Network Rail £3.5m compensation for train operators in the North East and Yorkshire in the past financial year. That's up £1.7m on the previous 12 months.

Richard Lungmuss took over as route director for Network Rail in January 2009. He said: "Network Rail, working with our partners in the train operating companies, achieved record levels of train punctuality in 2008/09. However many thousands of passengers in the north east and Yorkshire were unnecessarily delayed after thieves brought trains to a halt. This is not good enough and I am determined that we will not allow thieves to continue to bring misery to passengers."

"We are working on a number of ideas to tackle the thieves and I would ask the community for their support. It is your railway, help us to keep services running reliably by reporting anyone you see acting suspiciously or any information you have about the people committing these crimes."

Detective Inspector Brian Buddo leads the British Transport Police (BTP) dedicated team of officers charged with tackling metal theft in Yorkshire and the North East. He said: “This year, to date, we have has recorded 367 cable theft offences and has effected more than 115 arrests, detecting 44 crimes and we are continuing to use a wide range of tactics to prevent, deter and detect this type of crime.

“We are dedicated to doing all we can to tackle metal theft but we can’t do it alone. The public has an important part to play. If you have information about metal thieves who are stealing from the railway network then call Crimestoppers anonymously and tell us - we’re not interested in your name, only theirs.”

Since April thieves have continued to strike. Recent incidents include:

9 April - 100m of cable stolen at Seaton Carew

10 April - cable set on fire behind the Meadowhall centre in Sheffield

13 April - 34m of cable stolen at Seaton Carew

16 April - 250m of cable stolen at Ashington

21 April - 10m of cable stolen at Thorne Moorends, between Goole and Doncaster

Crimestoppers can be contacted free on 0800 555 111. You can leave information anonymously and could be eligible for a reward of up to £1,000.

Notes to editors

Facts about cable theft As soon as a cable is cut, trains are brought to a halt. This protects the safety of passengers and rail staff but results in delays and disruptions, sometimes for several hours. All costs from cable theft must be paid for by the rail industry - preventing that money from being invested on improving services for customers. Theft prevention measures include: • A partnership between Network Rail and the charity, Crimestoppers, offering up to £1,000 for information leading to the conviction of cable thieves. • In house and external security experts patrolling known hot-spots and project sites which are known to be attractive targets for thieves • BTP targeted policing including intelligence-led operations, proactive patrols using dogs and off-road motorbikes and scrap yard visits. • Increased security at depots • "Target hardening" of cable routes, including the use of new technology • Use of the Network Rail helicopter to help deter and catch thieves About Crimestoppers • Crimestoppers is an independent charity dedicated to solving crimes and taking criminals off the streets. Around 17 people are arrested and charged every day as a result of information given to Crimestoppers. One person every five days is charged with murder. • Since Crimestoppers began in 1988, it has received over a million actionable calls, resulting in over 87,000 arrests and charges. Over £103 million worth of property has been recovered and nearly £160 million worth of drugs. • Crimestoppers UK was founded by Lord Ashcroft, KCMG, Chairman of Trustees. In 1988, he launched Crimestoppers in the Metropolitan Police area. Crimestoppers is built on a three-way partnership between the business community, the police and the media

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