Alert After Rogue Traders Target Elderly Woman

An alert has been issued after rogue traders targeted an elderly resident in Great Bowden this morning.

Two men arrived unannounced in a van at around 10am and said roofing repairs needed to be carried out on the house.

One of the men then went up a ladder and started to pull cement from the roof, before demanding payment of £45 and saying further work costing £300 was needed.

Luckily the home owner, a woman aged in her 90s, became suspicious and alerted family members who came to house before the men left.

The incident has been reported to Police.

Leicestershire Trading Standards say if a cold caller is at your door and you feel unsafe or have told them to go away and they refuse, call the police on 101 or if it is urgent call 999.

Trading Standards have this advice to avoid cold callers and rogue traders:

• Keep your front and back doors secure at all times.
• Don’t open the door to cold callers – they could be a rogue trader.
• It is your home – you can close the door and end the conversation at any time.
• If you do open the door, ensure the chain is secured before opening.
• Ask for ID to confirm who they are and check this using a number from the phone book or internet – not the number on their card.
• If they offer to do work on your property you can say “no thanks” and shut the door.
• Do not keep large sums of money at home
• When getting any repairs done to your home, ensure you obtain as much information about the business before you make a decision to have work carried out.
• Don’t be rushed into agreeing to any work. Obtain quotes from elsewhere if you think work is required on your home before making a decision.
• Remember that consumers have a 14 day cooling off period to cancel contracts made in their homes and this along with other information must be given in writing.
• If the business won’t give information about these rights they may be a rogue trader.

If you decide to have work carried out never pay cash, never pay up front, and never let the trader take you to the bank to withdraw any money.

Or, report it to Trading Standards(Link is external and opens in new window), if you just want to report an issue, but don’t require advice.

You can also report a cold-calling incident to Citizen’s Advice Consumer Service(Link is external and opens in new window) by calling 0808 223 1133.