e-petition for a cashless scrap metal trade

[niklas]

Metal Theft

It's all terribly well stating this, however, the vast majority of users of scrap yards for want of a better word are honest people, why should they have to cart a cheque off to a bank to processed? Surely the simpler answer would be to police the scrap yards themselves as is done in all Scandinavian countries. If a scrap yard has suspicious material in it, ergo, man hole covers etc then the scrap yard itself receives a fine and ultimately closure. When large cash or payment deals are completed at such places then an audit trail is available, therefore, say, a local authority disposing of old stock including road sewer covers is paid direct, the ordinary man in the street scrapping an old motor car need not be. In this way the market for rogue traders, ie, thieves would be removed therefore rendering their plunder useless without yet another bit of Socialist Nanny state dictating what individuals can or can't do. PLEASE DO NOT SIGN THIS PETITION GUYS...

 

[nelly]

No offence meant fella, but this comment came across as 'look at me, i'm better than the rest of you!



and I can assure you, if all there was to look at was pillboxes and the like, I wouldn't have got into this pastime in the first place.!

We all know the risks involved in our hobby, and in most cases are happy to live with them, make the most of it while you can!

A mate, did you not notice the little blue wink at the end of my "Ninja" comment, the internationally recognised symbol for "I'm joking/tongue in cheek comment"

All is good and anyman like yourself who has cracked Pyestock not once but three times is no bus stop explorer either (and your photos are top notch too)

 

[krela]

I've been in many many places before the metal miners found them....

 

[Incognito]

I think people are being a little naive if you really think a cashless scrap system would deter metal thieves, drugs are illegal yet they are still pretty readily available in the UK. All this system will do is drive metal prices even higher as less will people will bother trading in small amounts and those that are doing it illegally will either go underground or melt most metals into something else so they can take in.

As collingwood has said a lot of sites do get opened up by metal thieves amongst other people, obviously Krela not all sites get opened this way, some are just not that well secured to begin with or are open for other reasons.

Cashless system won't deter anyone it just means the determined will just get fake ID and fake bank accounts as the rewards to some are still worth the effort. The only real way to stop metal thefts is for the price of metal to plummet to a point where its not worth their time and effort in stealing it.

 

[nelly]

I think people are being a little naive if you really think a cashless scrap system would deter metal thieves, drugs are illegal yet they are still pretty readily available in the UK. All this system will do is drive metal prices even higher as less will people will bother trading in small amounts and those that are doing it illegally will either go underground or melt most metals into something else so they can take in.

As collingwood has said a lot of sites do get opened up by metal thieves amongst other people, obviously Krela not all sites get opened this way, some are just not that well secured to begin with or are open for other reasons.

Cashless system won't deter anyone it just means the determined will just get fake ID and fake bank accounts as the rewards to some are still worth the effort. The only real way to stop metal thefts is for the price of metal to plummet to a point where its not worth their time and effort in stealing it.

Prices of metal are not going to drop anytime soon, and certainly not by enough to make theft unattractive.

I'm not suggesting that the petition will eradicate metal theft but it will make it more difficult and maybe reduce the size of the problem.

You can't just give up on something that damages and harms just because some people will find a way around it, otherwise we would be selling **** and alcohol to 10 year olds and Uzi's to street gangs.

Like I said earlier, its not the answer, but its a start

 

[Incognito]

its big money for not a great deal of metal, so what if they can't get cash a fake bank account will take care of that problem. The government would be far better off spending time on legislation for scrap dealers not for people taking scrap in. If the dealers get hit hard they may think twice about taking something in thats known to be nicked or something that is potentially dodgy. Even then that may cause metal prices to go up in further making it even more attractive to thieves.

BTW i'm not saying something shouldn't be done I just don't think this will help in the slightest bit other than to make more money for the banks due to the extra fees all the scrap dealers will have to pay for paying out in cheques (which are pretty much phased out) or by BACS. The other issue is for the genuine people taking scrap in could very easily be ripped off as they won't know if they have been paid or not until they check their accounts, sorry but if i'm remodelling and I take in 1k worth of copper I want to know for sure i'm getting my money!!

 

[losttom]

Signed, not sure how much it will help though

 

[Deepcover]

same old.

They should do as they do with my job..''test purchase's'' ..I'am a Doorman...if a customer come's to my bar that is under age,and i let them in, I get sacked and the bar gets a £5000 fine..go to a scrap yard with a bronze memorial plack... if they fail ..shut em down. simple.....when you go to a scrap yard you give your name,address, car reg..and your on cctv....so what difference doe's cashless deals make.... it's the unscrewpulus scrap dealers who accept the ww1/ww2 bronze placks that are the bad people in the game not the customer.

 

[krela]

its big money for not a great deal of metal, so what if they can't get cash a fake bank account will take care of that problem. The government would be far better off spending time on legislation for scrap dealers not for people taking scrap in. If the dealers get hit hard they may think twice about taking something in thats known to be nicked or something that is potentially dodgy. Even then that may cause metal prices to go up in further making it even more attractive to thieves.

BTW i'm not saying something shouldn't be done I just don't think this will help in the slightest bit other than to make more money for the banks due to the extra fees all the scrap dealers will have to pay for paying out in cheques (which are pretty much phased out) or by BACS. The other issue is for the genuine people taking scrap in could very easily be ripped off as they won't know if they have been paid or not until they check their accounts, sorry but if i'm remodelling and I take in 1k worth of copper I want to know for sure i'm getting my money!!

I think you're all forgetting that there is actually new legislation coming in early next year which actually does put the responsibility on scrap dealers to verify the origin or the metal and get valid ID with addresses from people selling it. Yes this can be circumvented, so can any law. A law is only as good as its enforcement.

An e-petition is pointless. It only means something if it gets to 100,000 signatures, and even then because there is already new legislation on the way it wont get debated anyway.