British Transport Police (BTP) detectives have arrested three people after two separate incidents of cable theft in Surrey. Officers were called to the line near Virginia Water rail station at 4.15pm on Monday, 2 July following a report of cable theft.
A 52-year-old woman and a 22 year-old man, both from Addlestone, were arrested at the scene on suspicion of cable theft and have been released on police bail, pending further enquiries, until Wednesday, 8 August. The following day, Tuesday, 3 July, BTP received reports of a trespasser near the line at Woking around 7.40am. Following a search of the area, officers arrested a 22-year-old man from Woking. He has also been bailed until early August pending further enquiries.
Detective Sergeant Jeremy Walley, the investigating officer for both cases, said: “We’re continuing to work closely with Network Rail and Surrey Police to tackle cable theft from the rail network. We also work closely with scrap yard owners to monitor any cable which is brought in and, with assistance from railway and telecoms experts, we can quickly identify if any of that cable has been taken from the rail network.
“The theft of cable and metal has a direct impact on the everyday lives of the travelling public. It really is an attack on the community.
“Stealing cable is also an extremely dangerous act which is costly to the rail industry and to the many thousands of passengers who rely on the rail network across Surrey.”
DS Walley added: “Our enquiries into these two incidents, which are unconnected, are ongoing but if you saw anything suspicious in either Woking or Virginia Water at the time, or have any information that could assist us, we want to hear from you.”
Tim Shoveller, managing director of the Network Rail and South West Trains alliance said: “Britain is under attack from metal thieves. Every day thousands of passengers and many essential freight deliveries are being disrupted and delayed.
“The rail industry is doing all it can to protect the network; investing around £2m each year to fund extra BTP officers, using CCTV, forensic marking techniques and other technology. Through this massive effort, crimes and delays are down but they are still at an unacceptably high level. We firmly believe that without legal reform of the 1964 Scrap Metal Dealers Act we will continue to see thousands of hours of delay and millions of pounds wasted on these crimes.”
Separately, telephone cable which was deliberately thrown onto the rail lines close to Peterborough station caused more than 20 hours in delays. The damage and compensation has also left a bill of £90,000. British Transport Police (BTP) is calling on the public’s help to identify those responsible for the incident, which took place on Monday, 25 June.
PC Christopher Thompson-Chambers, investigating officer, said: “A train driver travelling through the area at around 8.30am reported cable, five metres in length, was thrown off Mayors Walk bridge directly onto the lines.
“As it fell, the cable draped over the overhead power lines and, minutes later when a train passed through, shorted the whole system.
“There was a loud bang and bright sparks which followed as trains were brought to an immediate halt.” Officers at the scene discovered the cable was telephone wiring.
The damage caused a total of 1,202 minutes of delays to trains. 85 trains were affected and five services were cancelled as a result. It is estimated to have cost Network Rail more than £90,000 in compensation to train companies.
Vicki Beadle, community safety manager for Network Rail, said: “Actions like these are reckless and irresponsible. The consequences could have been far more serious than they were. Passengers suffered considerable disruption and the resulting compensation is money which would have been better spent improving the railway.”
PC Thompson-Chambers added: “This was mindless damage which caused delays to services heading into the city all morning and into the afternoon. Although no one was injured this could have been much worse.”
And in Glouvestershire, a man from Hardwicke has been arrested on suspicion of the theft of metal from an address in Parsons Court in Minchinhampton. At around 8.40pm on Monday July 2 officers were carrying out directed patrols of the Minchinhampton area when they received a report that a man was removing scrap copper piping from a house under renovation.
Officers attended and arrested a 40-year-old man on suspicion of theft.
After his arrest officers carried out a search of a property where they recovered metal, a number of cannabis plants and cannabis cultivation equipment. The man was further arrested on suspicion of cannabis cultivation and has been bailed to return to the police station on August 28, pending further enquiries.
At the end of June new measures to combat metal theft were rolled out across the south west region. The operation sees cross-border work with Avon and Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Constabularies, to target metal thieves.
The operation aims to deter would be thieves by making it easier to trace sellers of stolen metal through an identification scheme. Officers across the region are also working with scrap metal dealers to gather intelligence and encourage the reporting of suspected thieves.
