Thieves close L&L

THE Leeds & Liverpool Canal has been closed for two days due to thieves stealing oil-filled power cables.

The thieves risked their lives in stealing metal from a 33,000 volts power line, part of which went over the Leeds & Liverpool Canal at Kirkstall in Leeds, Alan Tilbury reveals.

£125,000 worth of damage

Though they only managed to get £50 worth of metal, they severed the cable that caused £125,000 worth of damage, and a further £25,000 for the subsequent clean-up, and left hundreds of homes without power.

Around 1,500 litres of oil spilled out of the cable into the waterway, causing a boom to be installed around the oil spill, that closed the canal.

Contain pollution

British Waterways worked with the Environment Agency and engineers from Northern Powergrid team, to contain the pollution.

Such are the problems caused by metal theft, that there is to be a Parliamentary debate, that could result in the government banning all cash transactions with scrap merchants.