Teessiders steal Virgin's Copper

Pia · 06-07-2007, 11:32

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/6274924.stm

Quote:

Police on Teesside have joined forces with telecoms giant Virgin Media to stem growing thefts of copper. Officers believe thefts are rising because of the increased cost of precious metals on the open markets.
In May Virgin customers on Teesside had services interrupted when thieves ripped out underground copper cables.

Who says the north east ain't posh?

Escapee · 06-07-2007, 11:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pia

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tees/6274924.stm

Who says the north east ain't posh?

Interesting, must be the telco cables from Mux to DA and DP.

All the large CATV coax is generally Aluminium.

punky · 06-07-2007, 11:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Escapee

Interesting, must be the telco cables from Mux to DA and DP.

All the large CATV coax is generally Aluminium.

That's even more expensive isn't it?

**Stuart** · 06-07-2007, 11:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin

That's even mroe expensive isn't it?

Wicked_and_Crazy · 06-07-2007, 11:55

So nobody noticed anyone digging the roads up?

How much do you get if you melt down the contents of a police station

**Graham M** · 06-07-2007, 11:59

a few bob!

buckleb · 06-07-2007, 13:08

This can't be true, as Virgin don't use copper like other providers (according to Ms Wax anyway).

joglynne · 06-07-2007, 13:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wicked_and_Crazy

So nobody noticed anyone digging the roads up?

How much do you get if you melt down the contents of a police station

A few years ago, a friend who is a general builder was using a large portable generator to power a cutting wheel he was using to relay parts of the pavement outside a police station.

As there was not much room and he didn't want to block the pavement he tucked the generator around the back of his van just out of his eyesight but right outside the main entrance to the police station. The generator spluttered to a stop whilst he was actually laying a new slab so it was a couple of minutes before he could go back to re-start it.

Some blighters had disconnected the power line and nicked the generator. They loaded it onto the back of a lorry and 2 policemen watched them doing it.!

At least our mate had a fairly accurate description of the thieves and their vehicle. With the police giving a statement the Insurance company had no argument against paying up.

Escapee · 06-07-2007, 13:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin

That's even more expensive isn't it?

Yes, but the article states copper.

I guess if I was going stealing cable by lifting an inspection chamber, cutting cables and then opening a cabinet and pulling the cable out the copper ones would be easier.

I guess the quickest was though is to just cut them one end, bind something around them and tie them all up securely. Then use something very strong to attach it to the towbar of a transit pick-up or lorry, I would think that would be the quickest was to get away with it.

I would of thought it would need a gang to carry out this sort of activity because it would need to be collected and thrown on the pick-up/lorry for a quick getaway. Then it could be taken to somewhere where the police would not be keen to venture so the insulation can be burned off.

This has been the method used when stealing from cable companies in the past.

I wonder what sort of group of people would do that sort of thing though

Shaun · 06-07-2007, 15:34

Quote:

I would of thought it would need a gang to carry out this sort of activity because it would need to be collected and thrown on the pick-up/lorry for a quick getaway.

You don't need a quick get away if you stick a yellow jacket on! People will think you work for Virgin!

fireman328 · 06-07-2007, 15:35

I wonder what sort of group of people would do that sort of thing though.

Thieves !

NTLVictim · 06-07-2007, 15:57

Pikeys.

If the smoke rising from their camp is blacker than normal, it's a burnoff.

Well known.

monkey2468 · 06-07-2007, 16:07

I used to work on an industrial estate, and part of my job was the intake of new pc base units which were to be swapped for old base units. This meant that there was a lot of spare power leads which we threw away in the outside bin. Every moning I would come to work and the local Pikey's (that lived on the industrial estate) had been going through the bins, cut off all the plugs which were all over the car park, and took the power cables. Every 2 days or so on a bit of waste ground behind our building, they would have a fire with lots of black smoke!!

Bet it's the same people!

altis · 06-07-2007, 16:15

Yep, distribution coax is mostly aluminium:
http://bb.commscope.com/ICSFiles/afi...anual_1003.pdf

Which is 1/3 the price of copper:
http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/

You're unlikely to pull a cable out of a duct unless you're pulling in a very straight line. I regularly have to get 50m of mains flex down inside some nylon tubing. It's amazing how even the slightest wiggle can make this impossible.

injuneer · 06-07-2007, 16:34

Used to happen a lot when I worked for Mercury Comms. At that time they used to lay their cables alongside railways, the Pikeys would come along at night, throw a loop onto the track and do the same a few hundred yards along, wait for the train to come along and cut it then scarper with the length. Problem was it was all fibre cable !! Doubt they got anything for that. Mainly happened on the East Coast mainline.