Officers from the Central Motorway Police Group target cable thieves, a crime that is costing the country more than £1 billion each year and causing chaos to Britain's transport system.

Nowadays, when the lights go out on the motorway, it is not just a cost cutting exercise; more often than not, it is because a group of organised metal thieves after the copper cables carrying the electricity to the motorway have struck.

The price of copper and precious metal has reached such levels that five hundred metres of cable stolen from the motorway central reservation is worth about £50,000. Show less