Thieves steal main road door handles

Brazen thieves have struck again stealing metal door handles from homes along a busy main road in Wolverhampton.

Thieves have been taking the brass knobs from properties along Tettenhall Road.

Resident Dan Graves told today how he arrived back at his home to discover the brass door handle leading on the front of his flat, one of three in a historic building on the street, had been taken while he was out at work.

The 30-year-old, who works in the media, said: "I got back from work and noticed the door handle gone. Thankfully we can still get into the flats and lock the door because the handle is separate to the lock.

"It is annoying though because you now have to put your hand through the letter box to shut the door.

"At first I thought it might have just been kids messing around but then I noticed the whole handle and lock section had been taken from another flat nearby.

"I suppose they are taking it because brass is worth quite a bit at the moment."

The Express & Star revealed last week that metal thefts are on the rise again as prices and demand rises.

Police said a slight upturn in the economy and an increase in prices of metal had triggered a new wave of thefts of lead and copper.

News of the latest incidents, comes as police are investigating other metal thefts across the region.

Traders in Walsall were left stranded outside their shops after crooks stole their doorhandles.

Stunned shopkeepers in George Street discovered the thefts when they returned to work after Bank Holiday Monday last week.

Traders told how customers were forced to stand in the rain as workers tried to pry open their doors with tools, before eventually having to call out a locksmith.

In parts of the Black Country, gangs are stealing old cars specifically for their scrap metal value with as many as 30 being lifted from the roads by low-loading lorries.

Detectives said unscrupulous scrap dealers are turning a blind eye by taking cash for metal and not entering it into their records. They have called for a change in law that would make the practice illegal.