J Murphy & Sons count the cost of copper |
14/09/07 - Rising scrap prices make construction a target
In Merton, Devon, villagers have had three church bells stolen for their scrap value. In Tividale in the Black Country, thieves risked their lives as they stripped a row of houses of their “live” gas pipes. Up and down the nation, criminals are targeting sources of non-ferrous metals, and as one of the UK’s major users of copper, the construction sector is squarely in their sights.
Growing demand from developing nations, in particular China, combined with a lack of investment in new mining projects, has prompted a dramatic rise in metal prices. 
The price of copper has risen by 61% this year, and has increased more than five-fold from when it was under $1,400 a tonne in November 2001. The prices of zinc, used as an anti-corrosive coating in steel production, and aluminium have also risen sharply in recent years.
Scrap metal is particularly appealing to the criminal fraternity as it can be readily turned into pound notes. Frustrated by new initiatives such as Chip’n’Pin, thieves are increasingly turning to scrap metal, that can be traded quickly, easily and with only limited traceability. And with so much money to be made, organised crime gangs are looking to lay their hands on these materials wherever they can find them, becoming ever more daring and determined in the process. Building sites are natural targets.
As a consequence of these activities, businesses providing security services to the construction sector are booming. For example, Camwatch, the UK’s largest commercial CCTV monitoring company and a specialist in construction site security, have seen the level of enquiries explode.
“Over the last three months we have tripled the number of construction sites that we monitor”, said Phil Bunting, Camwatch’s Managing Director. “Traditionally it has been concerns over the theft of heavy plant equipment or diesel that has driven this side of our business, but increasingly we are being asked to protect storage areas containing copper cables and pipes, lead flashing and other metal products”.
One such client is J Murphy & Sons Ltd, who have switched to Camwatch for both their permanent and temporary sites.Damian Strangeway, J Murphy & Son’s Regional Plant & Transport Manager commented that, “Camwatch provide a good service with great response times to incidents on site.J Murphy & Sons have sites with large quantities of cable, machinery etc, and since employing Camwatch there have been no thefts of such kind on any of the sites that are monitored by them”.
Camwatch can be contacted on 0114 281 9999, marketing@camwatch.co.uk or via www.camwatch.co.uk
