Yorkshire firm’s plan to tackle railway cable theft

Manufacturer Ellis, based in Rillington, near Malton, says its new tamper-proof cleat will stop thieves from disconnecting and removing lengths of cable wire.

Despite a recent reduction in the number of incidents, cable theft still caused 2,700 hours of delays across the country in the 12 months to April and cost the railway industry £12.7m.

The thefts caused delays of more than 6,000 hours in 2010/11, when there were almost 1,000 incidents of this kind, and there were a further 5,740 hours of delays caused by 845 thefts the following year.

Recent moves to tackle the issue include banning cash payments by scrap metal dealers and increasing fines for offences under the Scrap Metal Dealers Act.

But Ellis managing director Richard Shaw said the ease with which thieves can remove the cable was still a major problem.

The firm’s new device, which will be launched in London later this month, makes it much more difficult to remove the cleat from the cable, thereby reducing the time thieves would have to commit the crime before the incident is reported and police arrive.

Mr Shaw said: “While the crime remains relatively simple the problem will remain.

“Quite often the best solution to a problem is the simplest and our tamper-proof cleat is certainly a simple, but effective deterrent.

“By delivering a great level of security, both in terms of the strength and number of the fixings, we are confident that it will help bring an end to copper cable theft.”

It was revealed this week that railway cable theft in Yorkshire has fallen heavily. In 2012-13 there were just 46 incidents compared with 303 the previous year across North, South and West Yorkshire.

There were 338 hours of delay in the three counties during 2012-13, down from 1,774 in 2011-12. Phil Verster, for Network Rail, said officials were “not complacent”.

From autumn, dealers must be licensed and local authorities will have the power to reject unsuitable applicants and revoke licences.

Sellers will be required to show verifiable ID, which dealers must record and retain details of or face hefty fines. Police will also be able to obtain court orders allowing them to shut down unlicensed scrap yards.