Explore the towns of England


Our taxes going down the drain... by Birmingham UK Com

High steel prices have led to an increase inBefore we condemn the UK criminal for this
manhole and drain cover theft across the UK.thoughtless and inconsiderate act of selfish
In fact, metals in general are high on theprofiteering at the expense of safety and
priority list for thieves with white vans andwaste of tax payers contributions, we should
scrap metal establishments of ill repute. Ittake a look at this problem on a global
is not unknown for large blue motorway signsscale. We are not alone. This is common
to  mysteriously  vanish  overnight.practice in some countries. Surprisingly it
is  very  common  and a big problem in China.
Large sewer grate covers and heavy drain
covers are lucrative money spinners for thoseIn Beijing, China's capital city, they are
prepared to take the risk. Sold for atesting a new kind of manhole cover to try
fraction of their replacement cost there isand stop the prolific theft of manhole covers
still a tidy profit to be made in this trade.on pavements and roads around the city.
A quick check on google reveals that theInventors in Beijing are currently trying to
problem is not exclusive to the Westmake manhole covers of non-metal materials so
Midlands. Similar experience inthat they are no longer a temptation for
Aberdeenshire, Cambridgeshire,theives. This is a huge problem in China
Gloucestershire, Lincolnshire and Norfolkwhere the covers are sold as scrap for a few
have  been  widely  publicised.dollars but replacements cost over a hundred
dollars each. Incredibly Beijing has more
Councils are being urged to considerthan 600,000 manhole covers and during 2004
upgrading their security measures and tothe city lost around 240,000 manhole and
investigate the possible replacement of somedrain  covers  to  thieves.
high risk covers with more secure and harder
to remove products. More modern covers offerOn a smaller scale but equally lucrative are
recessed locks which are almost impossible toBritish Road Signs. Go to Ebay and type in
remove.'road sign' in the search facility. Hundreds
of road signs are on offer, many of them are
Councils are united in their condemnation ofcopies but look closely and you could pick up
this new trend of mindless and irresponsiblea genuine and original bargain such as the
theft. Their concerns, apart from theTrafford Road sign with current bidding at
inconvenience and cost of replacement, are£30 and the reserve not yet met. A closer
the fact that these drains are left exposedlook reveals traffic cones, village signs and
and likely to be a serious safety hazard toother icons of Britain that can be found up
pedestrians and motorists. Imagine aand down the country and which are often
motorcycle travelling at speed and hitting aignored by all but the dedicated ebay
hole in the road or a small child or elderlyentrepreneur who wanders around at night with
person  falling  into  a  hole in the ground.his screwdriver and crowbar finding items of
worth to advertise on ebay.



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