Newham, east London, is the new centre of manhole cover theft in the UK.
First Aberdeen and then Gloucester were targetted by opportunistic thieves looking to make a quick profit on the scrap metal market, and now it's the turn of the capital.
As the world price of steel has more than doubled in the past twelve months, manhole covers are changing hands for around a hundred pounds each. And according to reports in today's papers Newham has lost around 200 grates and covers in the past few weeks alone.
However, we still have some way to go before we match Kolkata in West Bengal who lost 10,000 covers in two months earlier this year.
