Tyne and Wear Metro thieves 'burned' stealing cables

People's lives are at risk if they come near the track, Nexus said

Thieves responsible for disrupting Metro trains are suffering burns and potentially life-changing injuries, transport bosses have said.

Tyne and Wear Metro services have been suspended four times in 11 days after the theft, and attempted theft, of cables.

Northumbria Police is investigating and said patrols have been "stepped up".

Metro operator Nexus said it had found damaged tools showing users had sustained injuries.

'Thirteen-hour suspension'

Train services in the North Tyneside and Newcastle area have been affected by "substantial disruption" during a number of incidents since New Year's Eve.

On 8 January, an attempted theft of cable caused damage and a 13-hour suspension of services between Monkseaton and Wallsend.

The network had been targeted 48 hours before, at about 01:00 GMT on 6 January, where thieves stole 160ft (50m) of cable, between Percy Main and Meadow Well.

A cable theft was reported the day before, on 5 January, between North Shields and Meadow Well and an attempted theft between Four Lane Ends and South Gosforth was reported on 31 December.

Huw Lewis from Nexus said hours of disruption had been reported

"We found damaged tools, tools that show there's been sparks, burns, and that's not just damage to tools, that's damaged to peoples hands, peoples lives," Nexus customer services director Huw Lewis said.

"Stealing metal from the railway will only probably net you a few pounds by the time you've passed it on."

'An absolute pain'

Since the incidents, Nexus has been working with police to increase monitoring of worst hit areas to avoid further thefts and disruption.

It has also offered a £1,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction and launched a poster campaign showing catastrophic injuries.

Metro trains are connected to overhead power lines

In North Shields, some Metro customers said they were having to pay for taxis when services were disrupted.

One man, who starts his shift at 15:00 GMT, said he was often being "caught out" by disruption.

He said: "More often than not, that's when they'll cut it off so having to pay to get a taxi to get work, its an absolute pain."

Mr Lewis explained that each time a problem is identified, it takes several hours to make repairs and complete tests.

A Northumbria Police spokesman previously said: "This type of behaviour will not be tolerated and officers are continuing to carry out regular checks across the system alongside Nexus."