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Ah yes we did refer to this a little on the smash n grab thread. The situation is dire at the moment. There is a huge demand for metals and the price has soared. The emerging economies in the BRIC countries have an insatiable thirst for metals and this has, among other things, pushed the price up to ..well not quite gold rush levels but you get the gist.
As I understand it there is a voluntary scheme for scrap yards introduced by the Police whereby the metal supplier has to supply name address details and so on, so that the metal the customer is supplying can be traced to source. This is only having a mixed success as I understand it as real names and addresses can be invented at the moment of supply. Mickey Mouse, Hollywood. etc etc
There is a new act attempting to make its way through parliament at the moment which could put this situation on a firmer footing legalwise, but it is a slow process in the House and all the metal will be gone from all our roofs before it goes through.
It is almost impossible to stop at the moment, as the Police are finding, although they are having some successes catching the perpetrators. Yesterday there was a story on the TV news as to how the sudden loss of metals from hither or tither could effect the actual progress and infrastructure of the Olympic games. Metals vanish overnight, trains stop running etc
BRIC countries = Brazil, Russia, India, China.