DRIVERS in North Ayrshire are being left in limbo as thieves target sought after batteries from temporary traffic lights.

And police are warning that a serious accident could happen if the culprits are not brought to justice swiftly.

Inspector Colin Convery brought up the issue at the first meeting of the newly formed Stevenston Community Council last week.

He told the packed meeting: “One thing I do want to bring to your attention is theft of batteries from traffic lights, which sounds trivial, but it is a problem across the west coast and the MO seems to be that in the middle of the night, they break into temporary traffic lights and steal the batteries out of them.

“Now there is a market both for the batteries and for the metal that is in them and we are actively trying to work out who is doing it first and foremost but secondly, cut of the supply chain by working with the second-hand dealers who are the primary outsource of where they end up going.”

The majority of the batteries stolen have been from the trunk road network with the A78 being particularly targeted.

Inspector Convery added: “It is a real problem for us, 1. It’s crime, 2. It’s relatively high value at about £200 or £300 a battery, but the third part is the safety element. The vast majority have been along the shore road areas and people are meeting in the middle at the middle of the night when they are not expecting someone coming the other way.

“The traffic lights are disable and whoever is responsible is not really caring about the impact of that.”

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101.