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Rogue Traders are people pretending to be builders or “qualified” trades men or women needing to do ‘urgent’ repairs or sales people offering bargain products.

Things to be aware of:

·  They often pressurise householders to make quick decisions to have work done, pay in advance for materials or do poor work at highly inflated prices

·  They will often cold call on vulnerable households and deliberately overcharge for unsatisfactory goods and services. This can include charging for unnecessary work, damaging property deliberately in order to obtain money, leaving work unfinished and intimidating householders

·  Victims of this practice are often vulnerable or elderly and in the most serious cases, offenders will return to the same victim again and again until their savings are exhausted

Police work jointly with local authority trading standards officers and other agencies to target offenders who prey on vulnerable members of the community in this way.

The following advice will help tackling doorstep rogue traders:

·  Close and lock your back door before answering the front door

·  Use a spy hole, chain or window to have a look at the caller before answering the door. If you do not recognise them speak through the closed and locked door

·  Never buy goods and services from people calling unexpectedly or unannounced at your door

·  If the caller is selling something or offering work on your house or garden tell them that you are not interested and ask them to leave

·  If they do not leave tell them you will call the police

·  Always ask for proof of identity. Take it from the person (through the letterbox) and read it carefully

·  Phone the company or organisation the caller claims to be from (use the number in the phone book) to confirm their identity

·  If you have any doubt – keep them out.

Remember it’s your home. Don’t be afraid to say ‘No’