Anger as metal thieves continue to target road drain covers

Residents in Essington and Featherstone have been left asking for answers as six more iron gully grids were stolen overnight.

The latest string of thefts comes as the West Midlands experiences a spike in the number of stolen gully grids, with Walsall seeing more than 400 cast iron covers stolen in 2022.

Caroline Stratfull, 51, from Featherstone, said: "I placed the orange bag there just to let people know there is a missing grid, I have replaced it with cones now until the council comes out to fix it.

"It is really dangerous, you can't really avoid it, we are quite worried that people will fall into it or they will damage their cars. We actually have a blind person on this street, if he falls in then it can be really dangerous."

This latest reported theft comes as the West Midlands experiences a spike in the number of taken gully grids, with local councils issuing press releases requesting that scrap yards turn away the units.

Caroline continued: "It is a surprise, the amount that is being stolen. From what I have seen based on the amount of people who have come forward, I think easily around 30 or 40 have been taken so far.

"We are surprised that some scrap yards are allowing them to weight these grids in. I guess the problem might be that they are taking them in in mixed loads so they might not check."

Figures show that in June 2022, a total of 32 of the metal covers were stolen from around Staffordshire in just a few months, leading to Staffordshire Police urging people to report incidents of grid thefts.

Caroline continued: "They're astronomical figures really, the impact that these thefts must have on the budget to replace these grids each year.

"I could imagine it being really difficult to fix, you would have to monitor the scrap yards, or possibly change the grids to a more secure version, but then everything else has to change really, it's a difficult situation."