Enfield Borough Council has warned residents to take steps against metal thieves.

In the past year, the council has paid more than £300,000 replacing stolen metal from roads.

The authority has now advised residents of the borough to engrave names, postcodes or other identifying features onto equipment such as cement mixers, saws, bikes and ladders, and to ensure they cannot be sanded off.

The council has also a further £25,000 on replacing metal fittings stolen from the borough’s parks since 2010.

Enfield Council’s cabinet member for environment Councillor Chris Bond said: “The effects of metal theft are far reaching and a vast number of people will have been affected by it. Whether it is as a result of danger from removed gullies or manholes, cancelled sports events because of vandalised park changing rooms.

"Residents and commuters are inconvenienced by the theft of metal from railway tracks and fly tipping often happens when metal thieves dump the unwanted bits of the items they have stolen.”