The UK's £5 billion-a-year scrap industry is facing tougher regulation as part of a government crackdown on metal theft, including copper pipes and cabling.
People selling scrap could be required to register and face identity checks. And cash payments could be banned, to make metal transactions easier to trace, Home Office minister, Lord Henley told the BBC.

'I think it likely that we will have to regulate,' said Lord Henley. 'We will have to improve the 1964 Scrap Metal Dealers Act which colleagues have been saying is well past its sell-by date.'

Around 15,000 tonnes of metal are stolen every year and metal theft is estimated to cost the UK economy £770m annually.

Click here for more.