£20,000 a month theft bill facing Yorkshire Water

It is costing the company an average of £20,000 a month to repair the damage caused by thieves taken valuable metal.

The company is now using glass fibre manhole covers as an alternative.

Last year the company had to replace 7km of cable, tonnes of lead and hundreds of manhole covers.

Peter Ramsay, company security and emergency planning manager, said: “Metal theft is a serious issue for us and we’re trialling a number of new initiatives, including using Fibreglass manhole covers, in our ongoing efforts to reduce it.

“The problem ranges from the opportunist theft of one of our sewer or hydrant covers, to the organised theft of hundreds of meters of cable or copper pipe, and even larger appliances such as lifting equipment and generators, with thieves targeting any metals which they consider of value, often risking their lives, and those of others, in the process,” he said.