A licensee must display a copy of their licence.
For site operators this must be in a prominent place in an area accessible to the public.
For mobile collectors, it must be in a manner which enables the licence to be easily read by a person outside the vehicle. A criminal offence is committed by any scrap metal dealer who fails to fulfil these requirements.
There is a requirement on scrap metal dealers, site managers and employees who have been delegated the responsibility to do so, to verify the identity of the person they are receiving metal from and the person’s address. This verification must be done by reference to data, documents or other information obtained from a reliable or independent source, such as the Identity and Passport Service, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, a bank or utility company etc. The Secretary of State will prescribe in regulations the data or documents which are sufficient, or not sufficient as the case may be, for verifying identity.
It will be an offence not to obtain and verify the seller's identity. The offence will apply to the scrap metal dealer, the site manager and any person, who under arrangements made by either the scrap metal dealer or the site manager, has responsibility for fulfilling this requirement on behalf of the business.
Legislation sets out the record-keeping requirements in respect of any scrap metal received by a scrap metal dealer in the course of their business. Information that is required to be recorded includes
- the type of metal being purchased
- the time/date of the transaction
- personal information on the seller
- who is acting on behalf of the dealer
- proof of the non-cash transaction
The payment of cash for metals is prohibited
