A drug addict is suspected of stripping 200 metres of railings from the Tsing Yi North Bridge parapet by removing one rail at a time - over a period of months.
And although residents saw railings being taken no one called the police - because the thief was wearing a hard hat.
The thief is believed to have removed each of the 193 aluminium railings by hand over the past few months. They were then probably sold to scrap metal merchants for a few dollars each, but it will cost about $300,000 to replace them.
At least 200 pedestrians a day use the bridge between Tsing Yi and Tsuen Wan. Kwai Tsing District Board member Chiu Wah-shing said he had received 20 complaints from residents.
'The bridge is 70 metres high. What would happen if somebody slipped without the railings for protection? The answer is very obvious. We can't let it go on like this. It is about our safety,' Mr Chiu said. Residents told him they had seen a man in his 40s removing the railings after dark. But because he wore a hard hat, they thought he was a bridge worker and did not call the police.
Police believe the man may be a drug addict seeking cash to finance his habit.
