THIEVES who stole metal cable from a mobile cancer screening unit are the lowest of the low.

They have left scores of women even more anxious as they have to wait for their routine test.

Many women will have been dreading their first test in case any lumps were found.

Time and money will have gone to waste as they made arrangements to visit the unit at Royal Blackburn Hospital yesterday.

And the disruption caused by the backlog of appointments will be a real headache for health bosses who now have to organise extra weekend or evening appointments in our over-stretched hospitals.

The theft of cable continues to be a major problem here in East Lancashire.

Railway lines and electricity sub-stations and have been targeted in the past, causing disruption for thousands of people.

These vile criminals will go to any length to steal a piece of cable which doesn’t have much monetary value.

If anyone tries to sell you this 10metre length of cable, which powers the X-ray machine, you must notify the police.

And when the offender is caught, the courts must punish them severely.