Officers from Gwent Police and Caerphilly County Borough Council teamed up recently to run an operation to target scrap metal thieves across Caerphilly county borough.
A number of officers took part in the multi agency operation, including a special and community volunteer together with Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards and Environmental Health Officers.
The emphasis was on reminding itinerant collectors of the NO ID, NO CASH pilot scheme currently in operation in Caerphilly County Borough, where scrap yards are only accepting scrap from registered collectors with photo-identification.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Licensing Section are producing photo ID cards free of charge for metal collectors.
In total 99 vehicles were stopped throughout the day – results included: –
- 10 people were reported for summons for failing to be registered / or failing to keep appropriate records.
- 36 alloy wheels seized.
- 23 tons of metal were seized with the approximate value of £3000. This included one large skip containing 10 tons of scrap metal with no records of where it had originated from. All of the metal seized on the day was taken to the Penmaen civic amenities site.
Sergeant Simon Clarke who coordinated the operation said: “This operation was a very positive result for Caerphilly County Borough. It was the first time we used the Caerphilly County Borough Council civic amenities site in Penmaen, Blackwood and as a result it was positively received from members of the public legitimately dropping off their recycling and waste.”
He continued, “The success of this operation is down to the great effort from our partner agencies. Metal theft is down significantly for the force, with metal theft in Caerphilly now down by 52% from September 2011 when No ID No Cash was first introduced – I have no doubt it is down to operations like these that contribute to our recent reductions.”
Cllr Rob Gough, Cabinet Member for Public Protection said, “Metal theft is a serious crime, and our officers have been and will continue to work tirelessly with our partners at Gwent Police to tackle this issue. This operation and others like it clearly demonstrates the benefits of several agencies working together to tackle scrap metal theft in our county borough.”
Metal collectors can apply for a photo ID card by contacting Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Licensing Section on 01495 235 039.
