SCRAP dealers are the biggest victims of metal thefts.

That’s according to scrapyard owner Mark Schofield who last year lost £50,000 to metal thieves.

And Mr Schofield, whose Linthwaite yard was burgled 11 times last year, has hit out against a Government bill which will ban merchants from paying cash for scrap.

He says the proposed Government law, which will give the police powers to inspect registered and unregistered scrap yards, has been disproportionately targeted at scrap dealers.

Mr Schofield has blamed the current ‘media frenzy’ on metal thefts for sparking police and Government interest in the crime.

He said: “The vast majority of this is stolen from scrap metal dealers. We dealers are the obvious target for metal thieves and we are by far and away the largest group of victims – and always have been.

“The police and Government are only interested in the very small tonnage that is feeding the current media frenzy, i.e. cable from Network Rail or BT.

“The police force in sheer desperation are currently employing bully boy tactics against scrap metal dealers.

“Dealers processing 50,000 tonnes a year, paying taxes year in and year out, are filmed being handcuffed and frogmarched away because of the detection of absolutely trivial amounts of ‘suspect’ material.

“The police force then trumpet their actions in the media and on their own websites, more interested in sound bites than justice.

“We are to be banned from paying cash although 99.9% of metal is not stolen. The absurdity of substituting one type of payment for another, which ultimately becomes cash, never ceases to amaze me.

“The problem of metal theft is a result of this country’s many social problems; the solution will not be found in a scrap metal dealers’ yard, but in solving these problems.

“This is the job of Government.”