Cambridgeshire Cable Theft Knocks Out Broadband for 4,000 Homes UPDATE

Openreach’s (BT) broadband ISP and phone network in Cambridgeshire (England) has been struck by a series of “major cable thefts” over the past two weeks, which is understood to have disrupted communication services for around 4,000 premises. A reward of £1,000 is being offered to help catch the criminals.

Sadly criminals like this cause misery for many thousands of people every year by pulling huge amounts of Openreach’s copper telecoms cable out of the ground (aka – Metal Theft), which is then sold on to dodgy scrap dealers. Some such cables are forensically tagged with SmartWater, which can help to trace the theft, but this isn’t true everywhere and tracking down the thieves remains extremely difficult.

In this case large sections of live cable were pulled from the underground communications network along rural routes near the villages of Caxton and Swavesey. All of the thefts have tended to occur between 10pm and 5am, when few people were around to notice. A number of similar events have also impacted local power cables, albeit only those that were sitting in storage.

Significant damage was also caused to adjacent farmland, where the cables have been dragged across local fields. Sadly fixing damage like this often requires a significant amount of work and can take several days or, in extreme cases, possibly even weeks to resolve. Openreach said they are working around the clock to repair the local infrastructure.

Bernie Auguste, Openreach’s Director of Security Services, said:

“These incidents have severely impacted the day-to-day lives of people in two areas of Cambridgeshire. We are working closely with the police to catch those who are responsible and have deployed additional security enhancements across the area, but we also need your help.

Please be vigilant and if you saw anything suspicious on or around the time of the incidents, report it. If you prefer not to speak directly to police, then please contact the charity Crimestoppers anonymously.”

Annabelle Goodenough, Crimestoppers Regional Manager, added:

“It might appear that no one is harmed or that this is a victimless crime, but the impact on communities is significant. Cable theft disrupts essential broadband services and can even impact on local emergency and essential public services. Those involved care little for the consequences of their actions, which is why we are asking anyone with information on those responsible to speak up.”

Openreach has a partnership with Crimestoppers, which means they’re offering a reward of up to £1,000 for information on these cable thefts leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible. If you have any information on this incident, please contact them on 0800 555 111 or use the online form – everyone stays 100% anonymous (information passed directly to the police will not qualify for a reward).

On the upside thefts like this appear to have declined since the introduction of SmartWater and the 2013 Scrap Metal Dealers Act, although we suspect that Openreach’s long-term work to replace many of its older core copper cables with newer “full fibre” infrastructure will ultimately deliver the biggest impact (fibre isn’t worth anything to criminals).

UPDATE 3rd September 2019

A similar incident has now occurred after large sections of live cable were pulled from the underground communications network along New Road, Abbey Wood in South East London. The theft occurred between 1am and 4am on 29th August and promptly knocked out broadband services for hundreds of local properties around Thamesmead. Once again a £1,000 reward is being offer via Crimestoppers.