Gangs steal manhole covers

Police across the country are hunting gangs who are stealing metal manhole covers.

Holes have suddenly started appearing in roads. The worst hit area is the London borough of Newham, where thieves have taken 227 drainage gates and 35 manhole covers.

"They strike in daylight," said Ian Corbett, Newham's mayoral adviser on crime and public safety. "Two blokes arrive with hooks to lift the cover off, they bung it in the back of a motor and they're away."

Newham's great drain robbery is apparently being driven by market forces half way around the globe. China's economic boom has created an enormous demand for scrap metal that can be used to make steel. Scrap prices have soared from about ?40 a ton in 2000 to as much as ?140 today. A haul of about 20 manhole covers weighs about a ton.

The international hotspots for the crime are India and China, where missing manhole covers have caused eight deaths.

Last month 50 manhole covers were reported missing in Columbus, Ohio; more than 430 were taken in a single strike in Hong Kong in May.

But the thieves may be rumbled by the heavy loads. In Newham, Mr Corbett said: "Once you get six in the back of a car, the rear suspension goes down and the front lifts up. This borough is covered with traffic humps, so a lot of the time they are driving round with their front wheels in the air."

Newham's stock of replacement covers has run out. The crisis has cost the council ?60,000, as labourers speedily cover the holes temporarily with paving slabs to prevent anyone falling in.

Drain cover collectors may also be playing a part in the crimewave.

There are several websites devoted to metal covers, and collectors pay hundreds of pounds for vintage examples.

According to art website Ruavista, manhole covers "offer living testimony to the industrial artistry of the 19th century".