Wednesday 4 January 2012

Warning! This Might Smart a Bit.



There's an increasingly alarming trend back in England, for young idiots to steal valuable metals.

They steal track from the railways, cast iron inspection covers from holes in the roads, bronze plaques from war memorials (unbelievable), lead from church roofs, and copper cables from overhead electricity pylons. Their swag ending up at dodgy scrap metal yards.

One would have thought that telling criminals just once, that this was both illegal and dangerous, would have been enough. But no, they will continue, and accidents happen.

The two above (yes, if you look closely you'll see two) failed to heed the well-publicised advice from the electricity people, that to shin-up a pylon with a pair of bolt-cutters could prove fatal, and sadly they can be seen to have reaped the benefits of their illegal stupidity.

And the moral to this tale? Don't test the circuit by putting your fingers into the socket!

Why is it that I feel very little sympathy for these two!

20 comments:

  1. O'h my goodness,what a silly thing to do,the sad thing is they probably have a lovely Mum and Dad suffering ,I always try to remember that these people are someone's sons, I wonder what makes them do such things,what goes on in their minds,it is a mystery that's for sure.I guess this trend will travel to here,we usually follow suit.Thank goodness our kids are grown up,it is awful to think what our grandchildren will come across.

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  2. Darwin (also) works in high-voltage ways.

    That said, I did once check out the plug on a faulty extension lead, change the fuse and then plug it back in and then check the other end... The National Grid hurts (a lot) and I have the horrible feeling that I have been dodging evolution's urgent attentions ever since.

    This is just sad. A bomber or bomb-maker who blows themselves up accidentally before they have a chance to do their "real" deed - now that's funny!

    I am a bad, bad person with too little empathy for (some of) the others of my species.

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  3. They should use that photo for public service information (or whatever they call it these days). But of course, there is probably a do-gooder quango somewhere that would say it's illegal to do so.

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  4. Or maybe against their 'posthumous human rights'.

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  5. They pinched the cable from a hospital generator here a few weeks ago. By the time they get around to tightening up the way scrap-dealers pay, it will be too late. All they need do is keep proper records and pay by cheque or direct transfer to stop this, but - as usual - the law moves too slowly.

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  6. Cro, when I was in Sheffield I caught two men stealing a patient's wheelchair once. Later the same year a five foot oxygen tank was taken from my ward.
    If it ain't nailed down!

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  7. Do you suppose the young are doing these things because there aren't enough jobs to go around or has someone convinced them that skulking around in the dark exposing yourself to danger is superior to a regular job?

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  8. Locally the scrap yard regulations have tightened. Closing the barn door after the horse left, since all the foreclosed, abandonded homes were previously sripped. I cannot believe these fellows havn't the ability to acquire useful job skills.

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  9. I'm not sure if that's desperately stupid or stupidly desperate...either way...

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  10. We have that issue going on here in Nebraska. Only they are stealing whole irrigation pipe from fields, and huge harvest machinery, and semi trucks for the copper cores in radiators.
    Oh, yes, we still have ole' fashioned cattle rus'lin, whole herds, and semi trucks loaded with processed boxed beef. Welcome to the ole'west.
    Good story, Mr M, shows you like Forrest Gump said "stupid is as stupid does".

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  11. We have that going on around here also with a few addicted fellows stealing bronze plaques and metal flower receptacles from graves to sell to feed their habits. It seems so desperate and so, so sad. They have been caught and are now paying the price for there deeds.

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  12. Foolish thieves have been ripping out the metal from telephone and electrical systems around here, too. And meeting the same stupid fate.

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  13. An absolutely tragic way to die...the stupidity of it is mind boggling! I've heard of the copper thievery here in the states...electrical wiring, copper rain gutters (put up on someone's new home), copper clad roofs, if it's copper it's been stolen! Haven't heard much about it though here in Florida! I pray that just one person seeing this photo will NOT try to steal copper cable!

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  14. This kind of thievery is happening in California as well. In my town of Sacramento, thieves have stolen the copper pipes out of parks and children's playgrounds, and the city has no money to replace them (they'll get stolen anyway). No, no more water available in parks.

    Desperate times with no end in sight. Those dead lads were stupid and desperate, but they didn't deserve to die. Crooks, yes. Deplorable, yes. But a sad ending nevertheless, in my humble opinion.

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  15. I totally agree with your comments Cro and as to the perpetrators demise well it illustrates the old adage: That it was all over in a flash !

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  16. Bwaaahahaha. Oops, sorry...anyone for toasted cheese? No sympathy over here - so stupid - so greedy.

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  18. What a grim photo, it makes me realize how sanitized news coverage is in Britain where we are never exposed to images such as this.

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  19. I feel sorriest for the people who had to clear this mess up...
    and the poor sods who discovered it in the first place!

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