The government hopes to have measures to make scrap metal dealing a cashless business by April or May next year, Lord Henley, minister of state for crime prevention and anti-social behaviour reduction, told an all-party parliamentary group on combating metal theft last week.
Tony Glover, head of public affairs at the Energy Networks Association, welcomed what he said was an “essential” shift to cashless payments, but added: “Also essential is a framework of measures. We need to close those organisations that are acting illegally.”
Peter Mathews, representing the British Metals Recycling Association, agreed that other measures must be put in place in the interim period, warning that “a hiatus between announcing that the industry will be cashless and it happening could be a ‘dash for cash’. Other measures will need to be in place.”
Among enforcement actions, Lord Henley suggested that powers of access might be included in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
The parliamentary group was told by deputy London mayor Richard Barnes that 167 manhole covers had been taken in a single London borough in 2011, and £143,000-worth of bus shelters had been stolen.
Glover later told Utility Week that local authorities may also be given enforcement powers.