THE Met Police is cracking down on scrap metal thefts, and recycling firm SITA is helping with a pioneering cashless payment method at its Hayes facility.

Lord Henley, minister for crime prevention and anti-social behaviour reduction, was invited to the metal disposal site, in Rigby Lane, to unveil the new electronic payment terminals.

It is hoped that they will make stolen scrap more difficult to sell by discouraging cash payments, which currently accounts for an estimated 30 per cent of the s5billion metals industry each year. The value of scrap metal is at an all-time high.

The system is the first of its kind in the industry, and uses photo ID for extra security.

Lord Henley said: Metal theft is a serious and growing problem.

It is clear that laws passed more than 50 years ago are no longer sufficient to deal with a crime that is increasingly dominated by organised gangs.

The Met is setting up a Waste and Metal Theft Taskforce to try to address a problem in which electrical cables, childrens slides, fire escape stairs, parts of English Heritage buildings and even memorial plaques are stolen and sold for scrap.

In the past year alone, the Gazette has reported lead and copper theft from the roofs of St Marys Church, in Church Road, Hayes, the Grade II-listed stately home Barra Hall, in Wood End Green Road, Hayes, and at the telephone exchange building, in Merle Avenue, Harefield.

Thieves in Hillingdon have also taken manhole covers, railway cables, catalytic converters and park benches to make a quick buck.

Now the government says it is looking at changing the Scrap Metal Dealers Act of 1964, toughening up regulation of the trade.