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Cable Theft on the Railway House of Commons Transport Committee Cable theft on the railway Fourteenth Report of Session 2010– 12 Volume I: Report, together with formal minutes, oral and written evidence Additional written evidence is contained in Volume II, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/transcom Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 24 January 2012 HC 1609 Published on 26 January 2012 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £14.50 The Transport Committee The Transport Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration, and policy of the Department for Transport and its Associate Public Bodies. Current membership Mrs Louise Ellman (Labour/Co-operative, Liverpool Riverside) (Chair) Steve Baker (Conservative, Wycombe) Jim Dobbin (Labour/Co-operative, Heywood and Middleton) Mr Tom Harris (Labour, Glasgow South) Julie Hilling (Labour, Bolton West) Kwasi Kwarteng (Conservative, Spelthorne) Mr John Leech (Liberal Democrat, Manchester Withington) Paul Maynard (Conservative, Blackpool North and Cleveleys) Iain Stewart (Conservative, Milton Keynes South) Graham Stringer (Labour, Blackley and Broughton) Julian Sturdy (Conservative, York Outer) The following were also members of the committee during the Parliament. Angie Bray (Conservative, Ealing Central and Acton) Lilian Greenwood (Labour, Nottingham South) Kelvin Hopkins (Labour, Luton North) Gavin Shuker (Labour/Co-operative, Luton South) Angela Smith (Labour, Penistone and Stocksbridge) Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at http://www.parliament.uk/transcom. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some or all written evidence are available in a printed volume. Additional written evidence may be published on the internet only. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Mark Egan (Clerk), Jessica Montgomery (Second Clerk), David Davies (Committee Specialist), Tony Catinella (Senior Committee Assistant), Edward Faulkner (Committee Assistant), Stewart McIlvenna (Committee Support Assistant) and Hannah Pearce (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Transport Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6263; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] 1 Contents Report Page Summary 3 1 Introduction 5 Our inquiry 5 2 Cable theft on the railway 6 Scale of the problem 6 Frequency 6 Regional differences 7 Costs of cable theft 7 Direct costs 7 Indirect costs 8 Effects of cable theft 8 Passengers 8 Freight 9 Safety 9 3 Causes 11 Offender profiles 11 Global commodity markets 11 Scrap metal industry 12 Background 12 Role in supply chain 13 4 Prevention 16 Rail industry 16 Police 17 Government 17 5 Conclusion 19 Conclusions and recommendations 20 Formal Minutes 22 Witnesses 23 List of printed written evidence 23 List of additional written evidence 23 List of Reports from the Committee during the current Parliament 24 3 Summary Cable theft on the railway causes increasing disruption to passengers, escalating costs to the rail industry and has seen ten people killed on the railway within the past year. In 2010/11 cable theft caused the delay or cancellation of over 35,000 national rail services and cost Network Rail over £16 million. This crime is part of a broader increase in metal theft from public spaces, which includes thefts from the railway, utilities companies and churches. Recent years have seen cable theft spread from hotspots in north east England across Britain, fuelled by increases in the price of copper on global markets. Ongoing demand for this metal means the appeal of cable theft to opportunist criminals is likely to continue. In this report we consider action that the rail industry, scrap metal industry and Government should take to tackle the domestic market for stolen copper cable. The weak link in efforts to combat cable theft is the scrap metal industry. At present, stolen cable can be sold on and processed through the supply chain with relative ease, as original sellers of stolen metal are difficult to identify. Although there are requirements under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 for dealers to maintain records of sellers, these are often inaccurate or incomplete. A more stringent statutory requirement for scrap metal dealers to maintain accurate records would help the police identify the criminals supplying stolen cables to the scrap metal industry. Greater accuracy could be achieved by requiring sellers to provide proof of identity before any transaction could proceed and we welcome the British Transport Police’s trials of such measures. To help with their work, the British Transport Police needs extra powers to enable its officers to enter and inspect scrap metal yards, regardless of whether or not they are registered. In addition, new offences such as aggravated trespass on the railway would increase the penalties associated with this crime. These measures to help stop cable theft require urgent legislative change. Existing legislation regulating the scrap metal industry is outdated and reform of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 1964 is necessary to improve identification of sellers, increase police powers and introduce new offences. The Government should bring forward proposals for reform of this legislation to make regulation of the scrap metal industry more effective. The damage to transport networks, passenger experience and the broader economy from cable theft requires this action. 5 1 Introduction Our inquiry 1. Cable theft in the UK is a growth industry. In the first half of 2011/12 there were 625 cable theft incidents on the railway, more than in the whole of 2009/10.1 These thefts have a significant financial impact, with direct costs to Network Rail amounting to £43 million over the past three years.2 There is also a broader indirect impact on the wider economy, estimated to be of a similar magnitude. Cable theft causes significant disruption and delay for passengers and last year resulted in an estimated 3.8 million passenger journeys being delayed or cancelled.3 2. Cable theft forms part of a broader trend of metal theft from public spaces. This includes thefts from churches, war memorials and utilities companies. The frequency of these crimes has increased as the price of metals on global commodity markets has grown and this trend does not show signs of reversing. Metal theft may affect transport provision in a number of ways including theft of: cables from the railway, platinum from catalytic converters, communications cables from the Coastguard Service or air traffic control and theft of metal from bus stops.4 We inquired specifically into cable theft on the railway because of the growing costs and disruption associated with this crime. However, some of our recommendations will help combat all forms of metal theft. 3. We launched our inquiry in October 2011. We asked for evidence concerning the recent increases in cable theft, its effects on passengers and rail services, potential safety implications and how cable theft could be prevented. We received 17 submissions of written evidence and undertook two oral evidence sessions. On 8 November we heard evidence from Network Rail, the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC), the British Transport Police (BTP) and the British Metals Recycling Association (BMRA). Following this session, we questioned the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Norman Baker MP, on 29 November. We are grateful to those who provided oral and written evidence and we would like to thank our rail specialist adviser Richard Goldson for his assistance. 4. In this report we comment on the extent of the cable theft problem and the effects that this has on both the rail industry and passengers. We consider the reasons why cable theft has become such a significant issue, both in terms of the global market for copper and the domestic market for metals. We then assess the methods available for prevention and enforcement and make recommendations for reform. 1 Ev 21 para 3. 2 Ev 21 para 2. 3 Ev 29. 4 Q 79, Ev 36 para 1.2. 6 2 Cable theft on the railway Scale of the problem Frequency 5. As figure 1 shows, cable theft has been increasing in frequency since 2004/05. The incidence of cable theft has “accelerated sharply” over the past few years.5 There are now an average of six to eight incidents a day related to cable theft on the rail network.6 6. Cable theft is not a new problem for the rail industry. In 2008 the NAO highlighted cable theft as a cause of delays on the rail network and noted this problem had worsened since 2006.7 Indeed, Norman Baker MP told us “it has been an issue for some time and the 8 industry initially took the view that it was best kept quiet”. 14,000,000 1200 12,000,000 1000 10,000,000 800 8,000,000 600 6,000,000 Number of incidents Cost of incidents (£) 400 4,000,000 2,000,000 200 0 0 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 to November Cost (£) Number of incidents Figure 1 Graph showing the increasing number of cable theft incidents since 2004/05 (line) and the corresponding increase in the amount Network Rail has paid in compensation to train operators as a result of these incidents (bar).9 5 Ev 21 para 6.
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