A FOUR-POINT plan to curb the growing trade in stolen metal – blamed for the misery of disrupted rail journeys – will be considered by the Government.

Ministers will decide whether to crack down hard on scrap metal dealers who sell stolen signalling cable, following pleas from police and MPs across the country.

Transport minister Norman Baker has said he is ready to toughen up the law, to tackle what he called a “very serious problem that is having a big impact on the economy and on passengers”.

Last month, a Liverpool to London was delayed by an hour and diverted after thieves – for the second time in a week – ripped away the signalling wire.

Network Rail described how gangs repeatedly sever the cable ducting with an axe and roll up hundreds of metres of the wire, which they pile into the back of a pick-up truck.

There has also been anger over the thefts of metal plates from war memorials.

The growing problem has been blamed on a sharp rise in the price of copper on world markets, combined with lax controls on scrap-metal dealers who buy the stolen cable from thieves.

Under existing legislation, the dealers must simply obtain a permit from the Environment Agency and register with their local authority to begin working in the industry.

Now the Local Government Association (LGA) has put forward a four-point plan, which would:

Ban cash payments, so people who sell scrap metal can be traced more easily;

Require licences to be renewed on an annual basis;

Install CCTV with automatic number plate recognition in scrap yards;

Require scrap dealers to keep a detailed log of people from whom they buy metal.

Cllr Mehboob Khan, chairman of the LGA’s safer communities board, said : “The Scrap Metal Dealers Act was drawn up for a different age and different environment. If we are to clamp down on thieves causing chaos and heartbreak by plundering metal for a quick profit, we need to give councils power to ensure the industry is properly run.”