 Copper cables were taken from a hospital earlier this week |
Tradesmen have been warned to take security measures with copper after piping was stolen from a van. Police have warned plumbers and gas fitters in Surrey to secure areas where the metal is stored and not leave pipes in vans or on roofs at night.
Pipes were taken from a storage container on the roof of a van in a theft in Farnham early on Wednesday.
This week, thieves stole copper from a hospital back-up generator endangering lives in the neo-natal unit in Kent.
Officers said copper was becoming more attractive to thieves because of the rising value of scrap metal.
Increasing value
It was the latest in a spate of thefts in the county.
In June, copper cabling worth tens of thousands of pounds was stolen from the Channel Tunnel Rail Link construction site.
Two months' later, the attempted theft of a live cable at a pumping station in Yalding led to warnings that the offenders could have been seriously injured.
In October, masked robbers attacked a lorry driver, hitting him in the face and threatening him with a metal bar, before stealing copper worth �100,000 from his vehicle.
The rising price of copper this year has been blamed for a doubling of related thefts on the railways; crimes where gas pipes to residential homes were targeted; and thefts where even garden statues and lightning conductors were stolen.
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