Gas cylinders targeted
The metal theft crimewave hitting the railways and communities across the country has spread to gas cylinders, at a cost of millions of pounds to industry.
Calor Gas said 200,000 gas cylinders were stolen last year, worth £9m, leading the company to write to scrapyards urging them not to accept them. The firm warned that even a nominally empty cylinder contains traces of highly flammable gas, representing a hazard to thieves. Some gas cylinders have been discovered in scrapyards with their bases taken off or even cut in half, while one has even been discovered in Tanzania, where Calor Gas does not do any business.
Ministers announced last week that scrap merchants caught dealing with stolen metal would lose their licence.