Hot market in scrap

If it’s made of metal, it’s a sitting target for thieves. Thousands of pounds worth of drain covers, signposts and roofing materials are being stolen across Shropshire as criminals seek to cash in on rocketing scrap metal prices. Abigail Bates reports on a worrying epidemic.

Crumbling churches, cash-strapped village halls and schools have been the victims of the latest crimewave to sweep Shropshire.

Not to mention the county’s local authorities, which have seen £11,000 worth of drain covers stolen in the last three months.

With the price of scrap metal on the rise, thieves can earn thousands of pounds in a few hours’ work.

But while these criminals make off with lead, copper and steel, small rural organisations - or us council tax payers - are left to pick up the bill.

The frequency of metal thefts has risen dramatically over the last year. More than 100 people in the county have been arrested in relation to metal thefts, and police say they are still looking for more thieves.

In this year alone, a village hall in north Shropshire which is struggling just to remain open has been targeted, and parishioners at a church near Telford have become so sick of metal thieves they say they won’t even bother to replace their missing lead, because it will only be stolen again.

Dozens of houses, schools, shops and other buildings have been the target for these criminals, who it seems will stop at nothing to get their easy money. Even cars are being attacked for the value of their catalytic converters.

But all too often it is the-volunteer run facilities and not-for-profit organisations which suffer the most, because their security is likely to be lower than those of commercial premises.

Philip Hutchinson, a churchwarden at St Bartholomew’s Church in Tong, was facing a bill of £1,700 earlier this year, to replace stolen lead worth just £106.

He seems resigned to the fact that churches and other buildings will take a hammering if they contain lead - which inevitably they do. And until lead thefts become less common, he says the church won’t bother to replace the lead on the roof.

“What’s the point of repairing it?” he says. “You may as well roll it all up by the gate with a notice, saying ‘help yourself’.

“When our lead was stolen in March the miscreants got £106 for it, but it will cost just under £1,700 to replace it. Until the price of metal drops, there will be no let up.

“It will be a huge burden on the congregation and the church organisation to find the money to pay for it. No one can really afford to pay for repairs just to keep thieves happy with metal.”

Philip says some of St Bartholomew’s sister churches are “at their wits’ end.” One church in Shifnal has been targeted by lead thefts four times since September last year, racking up a massive £100,000 bill in repairs and stolen lead.

And he fears if the situation continues, insurance for churches will rocket, making it even more difficult for struggling congregations to stump up the cash in the aftermath of a metal theft.

Over the last year, he says, ecclesiastical insurance companies have paid out up to £15 million as a result of metal thefts.

“It’s a very very serious situation. It seems as soon as one lot of them have been put away the next lot come in, and the police are only having limited success.

Up in north Shropshire, Whixall Social Centre, which is struggling to keep its doors open due to a dilapidated porch, was also stripped of £900 worth of lead in March.

Volunteers who run the centre rely on community events and fundraisers to simply keep the hall open, and are a long way from raising the £10,000 they already need to replace the porch.

Elizabeth Murphy, the social centre committee’s vice treasurer said although the hall was able to reclaim the £1,000 needed to replace the lead through their insurance, the theft was still a huge burden on an already desperate situation.

She expects insurance premiums on the hall would rise, bumping up the hall’s monthly bill to stay open. “It’s just a shame that they pick on struggling community projects. It will affect their own families and people that they know. Everyone has a community that’s local to them and at some stage some member of their family will want to use the community facilities.

“We are desperately trying to keep the hall going and the next thing someone comes along and steals lead from the roof. We are just trying really hard to keep ticking over,” she says.

It’s not just organisations, but people who suffer at the hands of metal thieves.

The occupier of a flat in Wem realised they had been the latest victim of a theft, when rainwater started to pour through the roof, damaging the ceiling. You can only begin to imagine the frustration at having all of your possessions soaked by rainwater, because money-driven thieves have stolen, almost literally, the roof from over your head.

And car owners beware - a Land Rover Discovery was tampered with in Ludlow last week by vandals who tried to remove the catalytic converter with a pipe wrench. Sergeant John Evans admits: “Because the price of scrap metal is so expensive, there are particular metals in catalytic converters which have considerable scrap value.”

So now, small organisations over Shropshire wait anxiously to see where these criminals will strike again, fearing the day they will have to beg, borrow or frantically fundraise just to pay the monthly bills.

Metal thefts in Shropshire:

• £11,000 worth of drainage covers stolen in Shropshire over the last three months
• Thousands of pounds worth of copper wire taken from the Central Networks Yard in Bishop’s Castle.
• Two square feet of lead from the roof of a flat in Wem
• More than £2,000 worth of steel from Hadley Park Industrial Estate in Telford
• £5,000 copper and lead from a bungalow in Ford
• £50 lead from the roof of a Market Drayton dental surgery
• Seven alloy wheels from the driveway of a Market Drayton home
• Copper wire and cable worth £2,000 from new homes at Swains Meadow, Church Stretton
• Lead stolen from roof of Redhill School, Priorslee
• £12,000 lead and copper from Travis Perkins at Oakengates
• £900 lead from the roof of Whixall Social Centre
• Thousands of pounds worth of lead from the roof of Market Drayton Junior School
• Lead panelling from the roof of St Bartholomew’s Church in Tong