A Burglar who stole more than £150000 worth of nickel and copper ... The moral of this story is: 1) Don't steal 2) Use a bigger truck
We were having problems with people stealing Automatic Train Stopping devices from the side of the rails where I work, removing the six 18 inch bolts from concrete pillars to get at the 250 pounds of copper wiring inside. Supposedly they stole almost a dozen before being caught. Unfortunately, for them, because they were removing safety devices that could effect civilians, they were charged with terrorism crimes and sentenced to 75-100 years each in a federal prison. Not hardly worth a few bucks in copper..but then theives are rarely smart. Guy~
You have to wonder about people who would endanger large numbers of their fellow citizens for a few buck.
A while back we had some guys try to steal the copper from the power transfer station beside an abandoned warehouse. unfortunately the transfer station WASN'T abandoned and they fried. They sound like good candidates for the darwin awards! Ziggy
*They* fried? You'd think after the first one fried, the other one(s) would have gotten the idea. That makes them *really* dumb.
Probably holding hands. Not always good results. At many power station sites around here, Copper ground cables have vanished from power station sub stations. Locked and chained but the fences are grounded. They dig it up by the fences and just cut off whatever they can. Now the fences are not grounded so anyone could get electrocuted if a fault happens. At a proposed Nuclear Site some years back a coil of 17,000 feet of 4/0 AWG, Copper Ground wire vanished. Great security. Most power stations in my area use Lead Covered Copper Ground wires even for indoor usage due to theft. Looks like Aluminum. In my area all you have to do is put a stove, refrigerator, washer, dryer in the alley and Presto, like magic, it vanishes. Any metal item vanishes as fast as you can put it out there. One neighbor was working on his garage with a ladder. He went in to get a beer and when he came out, POOF, the ladder was gone.
