'Help us catch the parasites preying on our pavements'

Paving slabs missing near Holy Trinity and St Silas Church in Camden Town

Monday December 6, 2010

A NEW rush of thefts of paving slabs from Camden's streets has led the Town Hall to ask residents and businesses to keep their eyes peeled for rogue contractors digging up the pavement.

The council revealed this morning that in the last six weeks, 149 square metres of valuable York Stone paving has been stolen from five locations in the borough. It costs £110 per square metre to replace and the bill for repairing streets decimated by the latest thefts will be more than £16,000. Thieves posing as contractors are believed to be responsible for the vanishing slab.

Camden's furious environment chief Councillor Sue Vincent said: "The streets of Camden belong to everyone and I'm appalled that rogue contractors have been stealing our paving stones. Not only do the thefts present a clear danger to pedestrians but in times of such financial pressires we cannot always make like for like repairs. I would urge anyone who doubts the legitimacy for works on our roads and pavements to contact the council so that the parasites preying on our paving can be brought to justice."