The theft of metal from churches in this country is alleged to be costing those churches £1,000,000 a month and is causing huge destruction.  The theft of signalling cable from the railways has caused significant disruption to travellers. Some of the blame for this has to be laid at the door of the SCRAP METAL MERCHANTS ACT 1964. This Act permits Merchants to make cash payments for metal, which is a great help to metal thieves, particularly when, as now, metal prices are high.

A proposed amendment to the Act to prohibit cash transactions would be a significant component in reducing metal theft. To this end, a Government e-petition has been started asking for a change to the Scrap Metal Merchants Act 1964, and all concerned individuals are asked to support this. 

To sign the petition, go to  http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/406  There is a short but informative Parliamentary debate reported by Hansard here http://tinyurl.com/5taa6xj