7,000 hours of delays from cable thefts

Metal cable thefts are set to cause rail commuters 7,000 hours of delays this year, figures showed today as passengers suffered more chaos.

Tens of thousands of commuters using Liverpool Street were hit by major disruption after a suspected theft at Needham Market, Suffolk.

Along with a broken-down train in the same area, it left National Express East Anglia passengers facing huge delays and cancellations. It is the latest chaos blamed on thieves stealing metal to sell on - driven by soaring copper prices - with the problem set to hit record levels this year.

Passengers suffered 2,772 hours of delays between April and August, official figures showed. Shadow transport minister John Woodcock said if the trend continued for the rest of 2011/12 it would mean 6,930 hours of misery, a 47 per cent increase on the 4,719 hours of delays in 2008/09. In 2010/11 metal theft caused 6,088 hours of problems.

Mr Woodcock said: "The Government should now listen to Labour's call for a tougher licensing regime for scrap metal dealers, a requirement for people selling scrap metal to prove their identity and more powers for the police to investigate metal thefts."

Similar demands have been made by the rail industry, which gave evidence to MPs today about the problem which costs about £770 million a year. Dyan Crowther, Network Rail's director of operational services, said police and rail firms were doing all they could to protect the network.