Local MP, Andrew Percy, is celebrating after the Government announced it is going to change the law on scrap metal sales within weeks. This is the culmination of a long campaign locally led by Andrew which has seen him raise the issue with the Prime Minister, Home Office as well as organising a local Metal Theft Summit in Scunthorpe recently.

The Home Secretary has now announced that the Government is going to amend the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, presently working its way through Parliament. The amendments will create a new criminal offence prohibiting cash sales for scrap metal  whilst also significantly increasing fines for breaching the Scrap Metal Dealers Act

Andrew Percy said, "This has been a long campaign and I am therefore delighted that the Government has listened to us and will act. Just a couple of weeks ago I met with the Minister responsible and urged him to act quickly to bring forward legislation to tackle this problem. Currently, scrap metal transactions are often completed in cash without any proof of ID or that the person owns the metal. The move to a cashless system will end these sorts of transactions and provide a proper audit trail of who is selling scrap metal and in what quantities.

Locally, we have seen a big growth in scrap metal thefts as the price of scrap metal has soared. This has meant communities have seen their telephones, Internet and electricity all too often cut off by thoughtless criminals stealing cables. Last November the Government responded by providing £5 million for a national taskforce to enhance law enforcement activity. We now know that within the next few weeks the law will also be changed to make it harder for thieves to dispose of their stolen metal.

We will never be able to stamp this crime out in full but the move to a cashless based system closes one of the loopholes presently in the system."

Photo: Andrew with Lord Henley, Minister for Crime Prevention