Thefts and Vandalism

Llangollen has had 3 coaches tagged Crewe HipHop overnight. Anyone with any info please contact the rly on 01978 860979.

 

HAVE YOU TRIED SEARCHING AROUND THE INTERNET FOR ANY PHOTOS ETC WITH THE SEARCHWORDS CREWE HIPHOP,ETC CAN BE OF USE, WE FOUND SOME TAGS FROM OUR COACHES LAST TIME THEY WERE HIT,WHICH HELPED THE POLICE GET EM! :-k

 

Although the BTP won't police your railway, they do have a National Database on tags. Your local Constabulary could do worse than liase with BTP to see if they have had similar tags on big railway stock.

 

Had some more cable thefts at Embsay recently.

However, not as bad as it sounds - it was the scrap cable that we had no use for - including some fibre optic... I wish I'd seen the reaction they got if they tried to weigh it in - especially after rolling it 2 miles along the line first...

 

Copper piping from Leander's injectors have been stolen from the GCR

 

F**king Pikeys, pity 5690 wasn't in steam at the time, a bad scalding would of been just deserts.

 

To be honest, I surprised that we haven't had more reports of such things. The price of copper is still very high and, on many railways, they are extremely vulnerable. Such a shame that we can't mete out our own punishment.....

 

David1984 expresses racist abuse of travellers and Steve is asking for vigilanteism!
Not a very edifying set of postings, I fear.
Annoying as these thefts and this vandalism is, descending to illiberal reactions is not helpful

 

Travellers are NOT a race so these comments are not racist, and i dont see any incitment to vigilanteism. I dont support the comments but then i dont agree with your take on them either.

 

Travellers have indeed been recognised as a race by the EU. At least that's what our local district council has told us during recent consultations regarding new travellers' sites.

 

Have you suffered theft at the hand of these scrotes? Just as we were about to return 34081 to steam we lost a lot of non ferrous stuff during a raid at the NVR, as did the 1306 crew. If you think David1984 and Steve are being illiberal you should have been at Wansford when the thefts were discovered. David's and Steve's comments are quite mild by comparison.

 

Since when have Pikey been racist ?! where i come from it refers to a a Chav basically, and despite appearances, last time i looked they were not from another race, get a grip!.

Im sorry but that post is typical of what is wrong with Britain today, more interested in someones writing being PC correct than nicking some thieving B*****d's!.

 

"a rose by any other name" call them what you want, they are scum and we'd be no worse off if they ceased to be. it seesm to me they operate with impunity eating at the heart of society and far from Vigelanteism, we should expect the forces of the law to clamp down on them.trouble is their hands tend to be tied by the bleeding heart PC brigade who we would also be no worse off if they ceased to exist!

 

If I was being a vigilante, I would have been inciting people to take the law into their own hands. I simply said that it was a shame we couldn't - because that's the law and I'm law-abiding. Read what I said and not what you perceive that I said.

 

As far as damaging rolling stock the most fitting sentence is for them to repair the damage caused. It also may help them appreciate how much work goes into restoring the rolling stock and so may make them think twice about doing it again. Controversially in the case of the Leeds art student could a positive way forward after restoring the damaged stock use the artistic skills constructively on the railway. May stop reoffending and allow them both to contribute positively to the railway whilst having the pride of helping to preserve and restore rolling stock and infrastructure.

As far as bricks thrown at trains and the like from what I remember of primary school when we went on a trip on general safety and law type course (Crucial Crew i think it was called) we had a session on transport about everything from dangers of overhead cables to prison sentences for throwing something at a train (life sentence). It was a brilliant educational tool although hard hitting and included other practical things like first aid, fire safety etc. Whether its done these days I don't know but if aimed at both primary and repeated at secondary it could help deter people with regard to throwing stones at trains and the like.

As far as organised gangs thats another topic within itself.

Regards

Duncan

 

When we first got going at the Severn Valley, back in the late 60s and early 70s, we had one or two exploratory visits from the local drunken idiot factor, bent on a bit of judicious criminal damage and general mayhem. Unfortunately, for them, they woke up some slumbering Valley stalwarts from their beer-induced slumbers. These gentlemen were rather irate, judgmental and unforgiving, of both the interruption to their sleep and of the prospect of their labours being sullied by these muppets. Things deteriorated rather rapidly and the intruders received a rather forceful lesson in good citizenship and the hazards of trespassing on railway property. It seems word went round fairly rapidly, because, after one or two further forays, the problem vanished and has remained vanished. The best thing about railway property is, it is dark, there's no CCTV and any witnesses are all on your side. The efficacy of summary justice cannot be over - emphasised...

 

Anyone posting from your alleged location can have no idea of the low-life scum to whom we refer. They are not a race, they are parasites living off society without contributing to it. They annex land at a whim and defy all legal efforts to remove them. They make the lives of all living nearby a misery, thumb their noses at the law and live by chicanery, theft , preying on the vulnerable and threatened, or actual violence. The only way they ever move on is, if their lives are made sufficiently uncomfortable by locals acting unlawfully and in sufficient numbers, or, if they are prevented from working. Before you ask, yes, I have extensive experience of dealing with them. It has never been pleasant. I loath them with a passion and always will. If I ever come across one who is not a dirty, thieving, lying toerag, I will humbly apologise and renounce my opinion publicly. Do not hold your breath, I'm not holding mine.

 

Having recenty had a family member suffer from a theft that could cost him his buisness i have deepest sympathy with all involved and yes something needs to be done about thes travellers

 

JTX is more or less on the button there. Removing them from railway land was a lengthy and costly legal process. Quite often BR would offer them a couple of thousand to get rid of them and guess what - they went! Saved a fortune until they all cottoned on to 'no bribe no move.'

But its also important to remember that not ALL metal thieves are travellers. If heritage railway goods wagons have bronze bearings - watch out. We used to loose them by the hundred on the big railway back in day. Organised gangs with three or four jacks can move a lot in a short space of time.

 

'I don't know if its already been raised in this thread (apologies if it has) but there are plans (I believe) to amend the law relating to Scrap Metal Dealers which would prevent them making payments in cash to those 'weighing in.' Bank transfer or cheques only (for as long as cheques last) is being mooted. This would be a good move for sure!