£5bn scrap metal industry told to 'clean up act over thefts crime wave' According to official figures, the number of thefts has doubled in five years with 60,000 offences in the first 10 months of this year alone. In some areas, metal theft represents a tenth of total recorded crime while the British Transport Police now ranks the issue second only to fighting terrorism in its priorities. Metal theft is estimated to cost the economy £770 million every year as gangs target the transport system, public buildings such as schools and hospitals and places of worship. Railway cable, church roofs, war memorials, irreplaceable works of art, manhole covers and even plaques in cemeteries have been reported stolen. Lord Henley, who is in charge of a £5 million government metal theft task force, admitted tougher regulation was needed such as improved face and identity checks and making cash transactions illegal. A pilot project in the north-east will be officially launched on Friday whereby metal dealers agreed to demand identification from anyone selling scrap metal. "At the moment you can just go there and sign in as Mickey Mouse or whoever," he told BBC Radio 4"s The Report programme. Police say the cash-based industry makes it almost impossible to trace thieves but legitimate scrap dealers a ban would only "fuel" the black market. It is estimated there are about 800 illegal yards in Britain, the same number as legal yards. David Smith, the chief executive of the Energy Networks Association (ENA) welcomed the comments as a "significant step in the right direction." "A package of tough measures is required to crack down on this dangerous and disruptive epidemic," he said. A cashless system is a critical element and those opposed to it lack convincing arguments. Ian Hetherington, director general of the British Metals Recycling Association, said the industry accepted that regulation "needs to be updated to clamp down on the issue of metal theft." But he said dealers were against banning cash transactions. "At the moment banning cash from the legitimate industry would fail to solve the problem," he said. Last summer, a cash ban was introduced in France and reports suggest that it is not working because material is being sent to other countries instead. Our fear is that introducing a cash ban in this country would have a similar effect and would also fuel the black market by directing wholly legitimate cash trade to the rash of illegal and unlicensed operators. He added: "Until policing of these illegal operations is demonstrably improved, imposing such restrictions on legitimate metal recyclers is untimely, unwelcome - and will not help to combat the issue of metals theft."