‘Cashless Day’ has arrived in the scrap metal industry, as now no scrap metal merchant or yard can buy scrap metal from you and pay with cash.
English Heritage writes:
English Heritage’s own research shows that around 6% of all listed buildings were harmed by metal theft last year. That is around 22,000 of our nationally important historic buildings suffering damage every year from metal theft alone.
Churches and war memorials are the worst hit. According to the research 14% of churches suffered metal theft in 2011. Ecclesiastical Insurance says it has received some 9,000 claims from churches for metal theft in the last four years alone, at a cost of over £25m. Claims on their policies reached a new high of 2,500 in 2011.
English Heritage has received a very positive response from the police, local authorities, the Church of England and other partners that it has engaged in its heritage crime programme. Representatives from more than 150 organisations are now members of the Alliance to Reduce Crime against Heritage (ARCH), a voluntary national network that is being used to take forward the initiatives and galvanise local action.
Demolition News writes:
This is now illegal and punishable with fines up to £5,000 for the owner, the manager and the person who pays you within the scrap metal company.
The scrap metal merchant can now only pay via cashless systems which are simply by cheque or an electronic method.
At the same time, you the customer will be expected to provide identification in line with National Police action Operation Tornado. All participating scrap metal dealers require a UK photocard driving licence or passport/identity card supported by a utility bill (under three months old). The majority of scrap metal yards/dealers are said to be co-operating with Operation Tordnado – its measures are expected to become law in Spring 2013 when the 1964 Scrap Metal Dealers act is reformed.
West Midland metal recyclers Mason Metals Ltd has invested heavily in a new building and computer system to cope with the new requirements. ‘This is the biggest change the industry has seen since the 1964 scrap metal dealers act. We have responded by moving our accounts nearer to the scale and weighing process to provide a more efficient system. A computer system designed to take and store the revised record keeping requirements and provide cashless payments has been installed,’ says Mason Metals MD, Andrew Jones. ‘We’re certain the new system will be quicker than the cash one and once the customers experience the convenience they will see the benefits. Times change and this is how we’ve chosen to meet the new legislation head on.’
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Demolition News: LINK
