4000m of Openreach’s Underground Copper Cable Stolen Near Lincoln

More than 4,000 metres worth of Openreach’s copper telecoms and broadband cable has been ripped out of the ground in the Nottinghamshire (England) village of Harby near Lincoln, which resulted in around 200 local homes and businesses being disconnected from the operator’s local network and ISPs.

The incident, which appears to have occurred during the early hours of Sunday (May 22nd), began after a manhole cover was lifted in order to gain access to the operator’s copper core cable. The cable was then forcefully dragged out of its ducting, which in the process is said to have destroyed nearby fibre optic cables.

However, much like we’ve seen in Wrexham over the past few weeks and months (here), this kind of metal theft does not appear to be the first such incident to occur in the area. According to one local resident, two similar thefts are believed to have preceded the current one. Sadly, it’s not uncommon for criminal gangs, which have become increasingly brazen, to hit the same area or region several times in a row before moving on.

The high price of copper helps to fuel such activity and, sadly, the perpetrators never have any regard for the serious harm they cause to residents.

A Spokesperson for Openreach said (The Lincolnite):

“We’re really disappointed that villagers in Harby are having to bear the brunt of criminal behaviour and theft from our network. Engineers are already on site and have been working overnight to restore phone and broadband to those impacted as quickly as possible. We’ve also brought in extra resource from as far away as the West Midlands.

However, this is a huge job and despite our best efforts, repairs are very likely to run into next week due to the extent of the damage. We urge people to report any suspicious activity that they spot in and around our infrastructure to the police.”

Local Police are currently investigating, but have yet to make any arrests. Crimes like this appear to have become increasingly common over the past 2-3 years, which could indicate that existing security enhancements and legal measures (e.g. the 2013 Scrap Metal Dealers Act) are no longer effective at deterring such activity.

The rollout of full fibre (FTTP) broadband services should eventually help to reduce such thefts (fibre has no value to thieves), but it won’t completely stop the problem from occurring because fibre and copper cables often share some of the same ducts etc. Credits to Josh for spotting this incident.