Passengers in the East Midlands have waited for delayed trains for more than 219 hours in the last year due to cable theft incidents, new statistics show.
Figures from Network Rail indicate that although there were only 31 incidents of cable theft in the region last year, the delay to passengers increased.
This is despite a number of measures put in place to stop the theft of copper cabling, reducing delay on the trains.
This also led to a compensation cost of £1,017,894 in 2013/13 alone.
Route Managing Director for Network Rail Justin Page said: “Just four cable theft incidents accounted for 116 hours of our delay in the past financial year.
“Last year delay to passengers and freight trains on the East Midlands route totalled more than 200 hours. That is not acceptable.
“This is because they were at the south end of our route which is much busier than the north and delay racks up more quickly.
“I am confident that the work we are completing to protect these key locations will result in a reduction in delay to passengers in East Midlands.”
He added: “We also continue to work with British Transport Police to identify thieves and bring them to justice.
“Our own engineers are working with suppliers and other industries to make metal – particularly our cables – harder to steal and easier to identify.
“Teams around the route are introducing new ways of working to reduce delay and fix thefts more quickly; and, of course, I want to thank members of the public who are reporting suspicious activity, allowing us to react quickly and minimise delay.”
As of December 2012, new legislation means that it’s illegal to sell scrap metal for cash. A Scrap Metal Dealer’s Act that will be enforceable in autumn 2013, which will also aim to regulate scrap metal dealers.
Parts of the Act include dealers needing to be licensed by local authorities, who have the power to refuse applications or revoke licenses; police can close unlicensed scrap yards; sellers must show ID, and a national register set up to account for all sales of scrap metal.
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A 32-year-old man is wanted after an alleged burglary at a burger takeaway in Spalding.
Marian Nitou is wanted in relation to the burglary, which is believed to have happened at Mr Burger on Station Street in the Lincolnshire town.
Nitou is also wanted for the breach of a court order.
Lincolnshire Police are appealing for assistance to locate Nitou. Anyone with information on his whereabouts should contact police on 101 or via email at [email protected] quoting occurrence number 21000114538.
Alternatively, it can be reported through the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or online here.
Councillors at East Lindsey District Council have voted in favour of joining a working group to discuss a multi-billion pound nuclear waste disposal facility in Theddlethorpe.
The group was officially launched by Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) last Tuesday and members of ELDC’s Overview Committee on Tuesday voted in favour of recommending to the authority’s executive that they take part in discussions around the potential plans for a Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) in Theddlethorpe.
Council leader Craig Leyland said his executive were minded to join, but added they were “fullyunderstandingtheverycontroversialnatureofthisinvitationandwhatitmeansforthelocalcommunity.”
He said the wheels had already started following LCC joining and warned it would go ahead with or without ELDC. He vowed to feed information back to the council and local community.
“As leader… I want to makesurethatallresidentshaveasmuchinformationaspossible… Beforeyoumakeadecisionyouneedtohaveadequateinformation,adequateknowledgeandunderstandingofwhatthiswholeprocessisandwhateverthedecisionwasthecouncilshouldshouldsupportthat,” he said.
Supporting the motion, Councillor Jill Makinson-Sanders said: “Justbecausewesitaroundthetabledoesn’tmeantosaywe’resaying ‘goaheadanddoit’. It’slisteningsothatwehaveallthefactsbeforewetakethedecisionandthat‘sgottobetherightwayforthiscounciltogo.”
However, she said she was particularly concerned about the plight of the residents.
“People’s house sales have already stopped dead and if this is going to go on for years and years and years, I think we do need to be looking at the effect.
“There is a ripple effect coming out of choosing to look at a site like that, it will have an effect on life in Mablethorpe, it will have an effect in life in Alford, and it will have the effect of life in Louth.”
Councillors indicated they had a number of questions they wanted to be answered, including more specifically around location of the GDF.
Ward Councillor Sandra Harrison said there had been much stress among her constituents. “Some of them havereferredtotheperiodofwaitingas the ‘phoneywar’becauseitfeltsohelpless,” she said.
ELDC’s Overview Committee discussed the working group on Tuesday. | Photo: Daniel Jaines
Around 10% of the UK’s nuclear waste needs to be disposed of in more secure ways for thousands of years, and the GDF would aim to do that through a mix of engineered and natural barriers between 200-1,000 metres underground.
Theddlethorpe is one such location where storage could be placed, with potential solutions being to manoeuvre the waste out under the sea bed through a series of underground tunnels.
The surface site itself would be around 1sqkm, with the rest of the facility 200-1,000 metres underground. If plans to take the storage out to sea are confirmed, they would travel around 5-10km out.
The working group will take 6-12 months to carry out its initial processes, which will include starting conversations with local communities, identifying a search area to undertake feasibility studies.
It will also head up the setting up a longer-term partnership of local authorities, organisations, community groups and RWM, called a Community Partnership, which will cover the rest of the decision making process over the next 10-15 years until a test of support (such as a referendum) is carried out.
The plans have already sparked opposition campaigners into action with protests being held outside LCC’s offices for both previous meetings around the working group.
No protest was held outside ELDC on Tuesday out of respect for MP David Amess who was killed on Friday.
However, campaigners were watching the meeting with interest. They fear that the Test of Public Support could be removed in the future if no willing community is found or that RWM will push for a much larger search area than Theddlethorpe.
Following the meeting, Sara Bright said it would “not be in our interest for ELDC to boycott the working group” now that LCC had already joined.
However, she said: “We expect our local councillors to research way beyond the glossy RWM literature and become au fait with the local geology, look at the full impact of areas close to other nuclear installations, research how major construction is managed by large companies and take an in-depth view of job descriptions in the nuclear industry.
“They will be held fully accountable by the residents of East Lindsey. There is no margin for error with this proposed GDF.”
Protestors outside Lincolnshire County Council sang covers of popular songs changed to be thematic to their campaign at a recent executive meeting. | Photo: Daniel Jaines
Brian Swift said he hoped the working group would “carefully consider the worries and anxieties of the local community,” adding: “Nobody I have spoken to can see any benefit in the nuclear dump coming to Theddlethorpe”.
He said the area faced “10-15 years of indecision and uncertainty, which will inevitable affect people’s mental health and general wellbeing”.
He also warned councils against a “wall of silence” adding it would only add to feelings of mistrust.
ELDC’s executive committee will examine the plans on November 4.
Yarborough Road in Lincoln was closed northbound from The Avenue after a crash involving a car and a pedestrian on Tuesday afternoon.
Lincolnshire Police said shortly after 1.30pm on October 19 that they were at the scene on Yarborough Road (Yarborough Hill) and advised people to avoid the area where possible.
Police added that the road would be closed until further notice.
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