Watchdog slams selfish thieves in floods alert

Published on 08/08/2012 01:34

Thieves are putting Scottish communities at risk of flooding by stealing parts from public warning systems, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) warned yesterday.

The watchdog condemned the “selfish” culprits who took a solar panel used to charge
batteries for a gauging station at Glenbreck on the Tweed weeks after the area was on flood warning due to heavy rain and rising rivers.

Although the theft in the Scottish Borders did not shut down the station, Sepa warned that such crimes are increasing and could place people in
danger by delaying vital flood warnings.

The agency is appealing for dog walkers, river bailiffs or anyone else who may be out near rivers in the Borders to keep an eye out for any future suspicious activity.

Nigel Goody, Sepa’s hydro­metry manager, said: “This may have been seen by the thieves as a quick way to make a couple of pounds, but for the local community this was a dangerous and utterly selfish act. Unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in this kind of thing happen across the country, and we need help to stop it.”

Mr Goody went on: “Stealing these pieces of equipment could have an impact on our ability to provide communities with essential flood warning services, and we encourage anyone seeing suspicious activity at any of our gauging stations in the area to report it to Lothian and Borders Police.”

The theft at Glenbreck was discovered by a Sepa hydro­logist, who went to the station to find out why the batteries were not recharging.

Analysis of remotely accessible information showed the panel was stolen between 5:30am on Tuesday 24 July and 5am the following day. The station was operating normally again by the weekend.

Glenbreck is one of 450 gauges operated across the country and linked to Scotland’s Floodline 0845 988 1188 service.

Meanwhile, in Jedburgh shop­owners have been offered alternative bases for their businesses following flash flooding on
Sunday.

Scottish Borders Council made the offer after a meeting called by traders to demand that more action is taken to prevent build-up of debris in a burn, which caused the latest damage.