October 6, 2010
England

Wind turbine farm raiders flee with equipment

By Melanie Jago, www.thisiscornwall.co.uk 6 October 2010

Thieves broke into a North Cornwall wind farm with a stolen lorry and escaped with £120,000 worth of equipment.

They stole four transformers from Cold Northcott EDF wind farm at St Clether, between Launceston and Camelford, on the evening of Saturday, September 25 and caused £180,000 damage.

The flatbed Iveco lorry with a Hiab crane had been stolen from a business premises on the A3082 Par Moor Road, in Par near St Austell earlier that evening.

The company which owns the stolen lorry requested the Cornish Guardian did not reveal its name while it looks to improve the security of its premises.

The offenders abandoned the stolen lorry after using it to force their way into the storage area at the wind farm.

They left in a separate unknown vehicle having loaded the stolen equipment onto it.

An EDF spokesman said: “EDF Energy Renewables takes all incidents that involve tampering with equipment very seriously, working closely with the police and pressing for prosecution.

“Safety is of paramount importance to us, and our biggest concern is that thieves and vandals risk injury and death by tampering with equipment. We strongly warn that anyone making unauthorised entry to sites like this is risking their life and the lives of others who may come into contact with damaged equipment.”

Metal theft is a serious issue both for the energy industry in the UK and worldwide according to EDF.

The spokesman continued: “This crime is driven by the rising price and high demand for metal across the world and work is being carried out by the police to understand the extent of the crime nationally.

“We would ask members of the public to report any suspicious activity around our sites, or any other energy infrastructure, to police to help prevent accidents, trespassing, fly-tipping, vandalism and damage to equipment.”

Police would like to hear from anyone who either saw the stolen lorry or has any information about the burglary and location of the stolen transformers.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact the police on 0845 2777444 quoting police reference BC/10/323.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2010/10/06/wind-turbine-farm-raiders-flee-with-equipment/