Once again, a community group trying to engage young people has been hit by thieves who have caused devastating damage for the sake of stealing metal.

The Salts Sports Association in Saltaire has been broken into three times in the last fortnight, with raiders causing thousands of pounds of damage.

How many times are clubs and organisations that are an asset to our society going to be targeted by mindless idiots who want to make a quick buck regardless of the impact on others.

Hundreds of young people use this facility, and ultimately, it is they who are the victims.

For the volunteers who give up their time to run the amateur sports club, it must be soul-destroying.

And for all the words and pledges of police and other authorities to tackle scrap metal thefts, little seems to be having an impact on this pernicious scourge on our society.

It is time something was done about this once and for all.

This newspaper has said many times that if there was no one prepared to buy stolen scrap metal, there would be no point in the thefts.

So let’s find a way to kill off this market.

There must be a scheme that can be brought in to regulate scrap dealers, to allow those legitimate ones to go about their business, but to crack down on those who are prepared to take stolen goods.

Why not have a registration scheme for anyone who wants to sell scrap metal? The dealers should refuse to accept items unless those selling it can provide legitimate ID, and a record of these details should then be kept.

It will unfortunately increase red tape for those who are law-abiding, but the current situation is simply intolerable.