UK Infrastructure Copper Thefts

[StringJunky]

Due to the high price of copper and increasingly punishing economic climate, the railway and electricity companies are experiencing extensive levels of copper theft according to the British Transport Police to the tune of £770m per annum or £2 million pounds a day!

 

I hear news quite frequently in my locality that the railway line has had a load of its signal cable nicked that runs alongside the track and my friend who lays cables himself quite often comes back to work in the morning to find the cable he has laid the day before has been pulled out necessitating replacement.

 

This all-to-frequent phenomenon had me mulling on ideas that could be implemented to make things difficult for thieves to to sell their ill-gotten gains so that it wasn't viable for them. Inspired by the practice of putting red dye in diesel for sole use by industries that are allowed to use it I thought maybe infrastructure copper (that used in the country's infrastructure) could be chemically treated the same way so that it could be clearly differentiated from copper from other sources. What chemical marker could be used that would be suitable without appreciably affecting its conductive properties? It should have two properties...visibly colour the metal and be easily tested and traceable, even in miniscule amounts, in the event that attempts were made to 'dilute' the infrastructure copper with copper from other permissible sources. The other thing was that only specially-designated and licensed metal re-processors, who will have fully-traceable records and accountability for all movements of this metal, should be allowed to handle it.

 

Responses and criticisms of my idea are invited along with any other ideas people here can come up with.

Edited November 5, 2011 by StringJunky

[John Cuthber]

Almost anything you add to copper will reduce the conductivity slightly- probably not enough to matter for signal lines.

However, copper is relatively easy to refine.

The thieves would just have to sell it to someone further back in the processing line.

In the limit, they could sell it as copper ore.

Sending it through the process that turns raw copper ore into pure copper would certainly remove any additives.

You would cut the profit margins for the thieves and perhaps they would quit stealing copper.

That leads you to two other questions.

What would they do instead?

also, how could you protect old copper. There's lots of it already in place.

[Psycho]

It would be far easier just to regulate the scrap dealers properly and give them massive fines for accepting the goods, or forcing them to hand over CCTV footage and descriptions to the police when suspect products appear as well as the police sending out information to dealers about items that may turn up.

 

It is the lack of regulation in a dodgy industry that doesn't care where its raw materials come from that is the problem, if you can't sell it without being arrested there is no point in stealing it.

Edited November 6, 2011 by Psycho

[Phi for All]

It would be far easier just to regulate the scrap dealers properly and give them massive fines for accepting the goods, or forcing them to hand over CCTV footage and descriptions to the police when suspect products appear as well as the police sending out information to dealers about items that may turn up.

 

It is the lack of regulation in a dodgy industry that doesn't care where its raw materials come from that is the problem, if you can't sell it without being arrested there is no point in stealing it.

I agree with Psycho (honestly, I'm think I'm going to make that into a bumper sticker). Would it be practical to have a regulation saying that the price of copper from known sources is uncapped, but if you can't prove where you got it the price is no more than £2,000 per tonne? I don't know much about how the trade is handled, so this might be completely unworkable.

[mississippichem]

In my city they fixed a similar problem by requiring that people have a license to sell copper, obtained by presenting a tax ID number and a brief description of how your business is involved in the copper industry.

[michel123456]

Due to the high price of copper and increasingly punishing economic climate, the railway and electricity companies are experiencing extensive levels of copper theft according to the British Transport Police to the tune of £770m per annum or £2 million pounds a day!

(...)

 

I guess this £2 million pounds a day figure, which seems overestimated IMHO, comes from the damages caused by the thefts, not by the amount of stolen copper as in the example below from your link:

 

two Newark men stole a few metres of signalling cable. They received £44 in cash for the stolen copper but their actions created mayhem on the train line. More than 100 trains were affected and thousands of passengers delayed. It cost Network Rail £75,000. The men were each sentenced to three years in prison.

 

£44 of copper are translated into £75,000 of damage.

Edited November 6, 2011 by michel123456

[Externet]

Hang the copper thieves by the gonads and post the pictures everywhere, including places that buy metal. That has to stop it.

 

Because the police does not work, and if they do; the judicial system lets them free with a slap on the hand.

 

Suffered twice copper theft; they make $40 worth of metal and cause thousand$ of damage plus costly downtime. If caught; they can not pay for the repairs because 'they are poor' and do not work.