Thames Valley revealed as the UK’s capital for metal theft.

New research from metals 4u has revealed that 1,193 incidents of metal theft occurred in the Thames Valley area in 2018, a 22% increase from 2017 making Thames Valley the region with the most reported incidents.

Industry has now called for the government to allocate more resources to tackling the issue at a regional level after the affect on rail networks and businesses’ is becoming more apparent.

Metals4U founder and CEO Paul McFadyen said: “We know how important the issue of metal theft is and how much damage it can cause, and the Thames Valley region has been hit harder than any other.”

Even the national statistic for metal theft is up 25% from 2017, despite the introduction of the Scrap Metal Dealers Act in 2013 which saw metal theft figures “plummet”, the recent increase suggests that the acts “effectiveness is diminishing.”

McFadyen added: “We’re calling on the government to allocate more resources to tackling the issue on a regional level, and we’re encouraging members of the public to do their bit by following Network Rail’s advice and reporting all suspicious behaviour.”