Sir, – Liam Stenson (Letters, January 31st) makes a valid point about the ability to bring stolen metal to scrap merchants without any formal checks being made. Here in the UK they have tried to reduce the theft of metals by bringing in checks, and the law was changed to make the tracing of metal waste more accountable.
All payment for scrap has to be made by card or to a registered demolition company’s bank account. Waste transfer stations are also included in this need for traceability. While there are some unscrupulous merchants that circumvent the rules, by and large the incidences of metal theft has reduced considerably and those who do not abide lose their licences. You can still bring your old unwanted metal to the council recycling centres – as you do not pay for this service you are not paid for the scrap metal.
It takes nothing for the Government to make such changes that can only help with this scourge. This will just be a copper-fastening of the sale of scrap. – Yours, etc,
JOHN BERGIN,
Oxton, UK.