Boiler and Metal Theft.

Posting this under steam locos as boilers are involved.

Two nights ago our clubroom and workshop was broken into.

Paisley Model Engineering Society on the outskirts of Paisley.

All our Copper, Bronze and Brass was taken together with 3 club members boilers

5" Bridget

5" Maid of Kent

3.5" Juliet

The Paisley Police have this in hand

We expect that they are destined for the scrap metal merchant but if the

******ds who did this realise they have a greater value they may appear on Ebay or other for sale sites.

In the slim chance anyone has any info please PM.

Think about your clubroom security and dont get caught like us.

Ianmac

Will keep my eyes open but do not think that they will be on ebay worthwhile members going round the scrappies especially the pikie ones asking an innocent question like do you have any small quantities of copper tube"!! If you spot one do not confront walk out and get police.

Bob

I would imagine that they could be loaded (along with a lot of other stuff) in a container, and shiped to who knows where, like Harly Davidsons here. Ian S C

Don't think they'll have much chance of retrieving these items,earlier this year £15000 worth of copper cable was taken in Paisley, last year thieves stole a 1 1/2 ton cast iron bell scrap value £5000 from Johnstone/Paisley, gone without a trace and nobody saw it being taken. Scrap dealers must know this stuff is nicked. So its about time they came down really hard on dealers that accept stolen scrap, a few heavy jail sentences and confiscation of property against proceeds of crime this would soon change the dealer’s attitudes to this sort of crime.

.

Edited By Cyril Bonnett on 23/05/2012 13:51:45

Just reading this thread and I noticed the advert (obviously targeted by keyword) at the top of the page - "Scrap metal, Ferrous & Non-Ferrous Car Recycling, Best Prices Paid, www.WardRecycling.Com", obviously ads like this do nothing to help the problem.

I was dismayed to read this thread, it is hard to imagine how disheartening thefts like this must be the victims.

Ian.

This is all about making money while they can, in the paper today a drug addict was jailed for two years while on bail for a similar offence, was caught on the roof of a Church after the lead.

Clive

The authorities in the UK can introduce whatever laws they think fit to clamp down on "dodgy" scrap dealers, but I am convinced that, as Ian SC suggests, a lot of stolen items including metal is being shipped directly out of the country without involving any scrap yards.

My local steam railway the Severn Valley had their boiler shop stripped of about £20k worth of copper a couple of years ago. I can't see that amount turning up at the local "scrappie" without alarm bells ringing, and I have not heard of it being recovered elsewhere. Sadly there is no alternative to metal for boilers whether full scale or model, and the "tea leaves" know this only too well !

There is no easy solution to this problem.

Gordon.

hi sorry about your loss is it not time to number boilers ect i know the cost would be high be all could be traced when been sold and could be traced if recovered simmo

Seems a good idea on paper but stuff like plaques to dead children and 100,000 pound metal sculptures are going walkies and never being recovered

So numbering stuff up would appear to be completely pointless

My own completely unsustantiated theory is it's being shipped directly abroad to feed the hunger for metal in places like China and the far east

Probably in containers returning for goods to the far east

Finished goods to the west

Stolen metal in what would be empty containers, back to the far east

This is why no-one ever sees it again, it simply vanishes

Edited By Ady1 on 25/05/2012 07:39:21

Metal thieves are here to stay (literally in most cases) and not much can be done in areas with limited police numbers .

Perhaps better to look at security .

The obvious is to have a well thought out system of security alarms , locks and registered key holders for clubs .

Less obvious would be application of modern anti-theft and tracing technology . It is for instance possible to do these things :

Invisibly mark a boiler , engine , tool or raw material with a unique code .

Fit anti-theft and tracing chips , collars and tags . Shops have a very simple system of anti theft labels .These have a passive device on goods and a shop door detector . Cars have anti theft devices and some have full track and trace on moving car .

Have an alarm which is triggered when metal is simply moved .

Have silent alarms with radio or telephone based owner and police call out .

Notes:

All the tag and tracking devices need an activate - deactivate control which is easy for legitimate owners to use but almost impossible for thieves . Car immobiiser devices would work as would some types of fail after x tries alphameric punchcode devices .

For some applications the link wire alarms seen in model shows would be much better than nothing - especially if connected to a very loud and irritating alarm .

Michael Williams .

Gordon, I think you are correct, in UK its just a few miles/ hrs on say a fishing boat, cabin cruiser, yatch and your in France, onto a truck and on to anywhere in Europe and beyond. A ton or two of copper would take you to a market anywhere in the world.

Where in Paisely did the bell get removed from, thats Mums home town, and I still have uncles and aunts, and cousins there, her father was a plumber at Brown & Polsens. Ian S C

Theft of metal over here n Hungary is so common and prevalent that people accept it as normal. Anything and everything goes. Overhead railway conductors from the railways vanish overnight. Power lines (and pylons) were taken from the building of a new grid supply. If a thunderstorm knocks out the local breakers the locals watch their power supply lines as they have a habit of vanishing.

This process was made worse by ‘oriental gents’ with suitcases full of` Euros. Almost everything went including wire fences. Scrap yards and Metal Stock Yards emptied over night. Old cars vanished and everything went. This is why 80-90% of lamp posts etc are in precast concrete.

In Hungary stuff can be out of the country in two to three hours However it takes some 23 – 30 hours to get to Europort and longer to get to Constanta,

That is why all my metal is 'under lock and key'

Rdgs

Dick

Is there a hidden agenda here, the thefts of operating systems like cables and essential things keeps people in work replacing them.

I know that insurance premiums rise but what hasnt in the last few years?

Clive

Ianmac, can you give me a way to contact the Paisley club. I live near Bridge of Weir.

Our Club used to have 'night watchmen' a pair of members sleeping some of the time in shifts on the Clyub premisess when we had exhibitions but these days were have a security firm listening to alarms 7/24 and most areas of the club are alarmed .. Entrance way is not so we can turn the alarms on and off as we leave and enter the clubrooms.

Dare I say the police are not interested whatsoever. There I've said it.

Regards bear..