Tuesday 1 Oct 2013
Rail industry welcomes introduction of Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013
- Region & Route:
- National
Network Rail, The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and the Rail Freight Group (RFG) are delighted by the introduction of the new Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013, which comes into force from today.
The theft of metal remains a significant problem in the UK affecting many industry sectors, not just the railway. The current cost to the UK economy is estimated at hundreds of millions of pounds a year and the crime is directly fuelled by the increase in the price of metals, particularly copper and lead.
Neil Henry, head of operations and performance at Network Rail, said: “Rail passengers and essential freight deliveries are still suffering at the hands of metal thieves who target our network. While we have made significant progress in reducing the impact of these crimes, disruption is still at an unacceptably high level. We have maintained for some time that legal reform was sorely needed in order to support our own efforts to prevent thefts and welcome the new Scrap Metal Dealers Act. We will continue to work with British Transport Police to track down and seek prosecution of those who continue to flout the law and invest in methods to better protect the rail network."
Gary Cooper, director of operations and engineering at ATOC, said: “The Scrap Metal Dealers Act is excellent progress in the fight against cable thieves, whose actions cause delays and disruption for thousands of our customers.
“This new law contains welcome measures that bolster the industry’s crackdown on the trade in stolen metal. Train companies are committed to doing all they can with industry partners to reduce disruption and costs even further.”
Maggie Simpson, executive director at RFG, added: “Metal theft continues to be a problem for rail freight customers, and we are very pleased that these new powers will enable more to be done to reduce the disruption and cost to business from this crime.”
Deputy Chief Constable Paul Crowther of British Transport Police added: “Today marks a very significant milestone in the fight against metal thieves. The Act demands a greater level of awareness and responsibility from traders, ensuring they verify who they are doing business with, but it also protects law abiding recyclers from unscrupulous traders.
“It is vital that scrap metal traders are aware of the changes, including the new licensing regulations. Metal thieves cause misery for thousands of people, whether targeting the rail network, power cables or telecommunications and today’s changes signal the introduction of a more robust licensing scheme to be monitored by local authorities.”
Notes to editors
In the financial year 2013/14 up to the end of period 6 (14 September 2013) there has been 95 incidents of cable theft which affected train performance. This caused 30, 928 minutes delay and an estimated compensation cost of £1,053,649. At the same point last year there had been 165 incidents causing 90,190 delay minutes and costs of around £3,497,974
Compensation costs (known as schedule 8 costs) are paid to train and freight operators for the disruption caused by the delay. This payment is set in a formula basis designed, on average, to compensate the train operator for the future loss of revenue. It is not related to and does not include provision for any additional costs incurred by train operators, such as compensation costs to passengers. This is a substantial part of the cost to the industry of cable theft but does not include the cost of staff time to repair and replace the cable, replacement cable itself and the cost of mitigation measures such as security patrols and investment in new technology. The amount of compensation paid depends on the type of services delayed.
Network Rail believes that a cohesive strategy, including enforcement (Operation Tornado led by British Transport Police and the Home Office funded metal theft taskforce), education (awareness of the issue helping to support the case for legislative change and leading to increased reporting of suspicious activity to police), engineering (new and improved technology to make cables harder to steal and easier to identify) and enablement (giving engineers the tools to respond quickly and effectively to incidents) have combined to reduce the impact of cable theft.
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