scrap victory

I have just heard on the news that the Government is going to make cash payments for scrap illegal. This was an idea I first mooted on this bolg back in November and while I would like to think that this blog is essential reading in the corridors of power I don't faltter myself. However I did back it up by sending an email to The Home Office and also to the Mayor’s office. The response was polite from both, the Home Office pointed out that they didn’t want to stop legitimate businesses from operating and had decided to concentrate their efforts on working with scrap merchants bla bla bla while the Mayor's office said they would forward my suggestion to the relevant committe.

A few millions quids worth of railway cable later and countless wasted hours for rail travellers and the government has a change of mind.

Now I know that there are plumbers out there who will be cursing this new law because selling scrap was always a good way of paying for a holiday. Now we will have to pay tax on it, as will all those blokes roaming the streets in pickup trucks most of who probably haven't paid tax in their lives, but if it stops even a small percentage of it being stolen from building sites, plumbers vans and even plumber’s merchants then it is a very small price to pay.