Thursday 29th November 2007
(ref:
358/2007)
A 92-year old Wigan woman answers the door to a man claiming to be from the water board…he isn’t.
A 75-year old man opens the door to be faced with a man asking if he’s got any jewellery or antiques to ‘sell or that need repairing’. He’s from a company down south and is ‘registered’…this means nothing.
These are just two recent real-life examples of bogus callers at work in our borough.
They weren’t genuine, they weren’t there to help. More than likely they were there to steal from vulnerable, elderly people. It’s a callous and cowardly crime that Wigan Council and the police want to see the back of in our borough.
And they’ve already started to make great progress.
ver the past year the partners against crime have introduced two hugely successful ‘No Cold Calling Zones’ in our borough – one in Golborne and another in Ashton.
Now the council’s Trading Standards’ team is about to add a third to the list in Lowton.
Working closely with the police, Age Concern and other agencies, Trading Standards has set up the zone where any doorstep sellers who call on residents without an appointment, will be told they are not welcome.
Chief Trading Standards officer Julie Middlehurst explains:
“The No Cold Calling Zones are areas which are prominently identified with high-visibility signs and residents are encouraged to report anyone trying to sell door-to-door to ourselves.”
Julie adds: “We get a lot of complaints from people who have agreed to have work done after someone turned up on the doorstep. In many cases the jobs are over-priced and the workmanship is poor. In other instances the callers sole intention is to get into the victim’s house to steal their belongings.”
"The two zones we have set up so far have been really successful in deterring this type of behaviour. We have deliberately targeted areas that we know are hotspots for cold calling and bogus officials. We have done the same with the Lowton zone and we are confident it will also be a success.”
The new Lowton zone will cover 161 houses in Fullwood Road, Wensley Road, Kenilworth Road, Osborne Road and Craven Avenue.
It will be officially launched on Tuesday December 4 by Inspector Gail Spruce of Greater Manchester Police.
Insp Spruce says: "People who pose as officials or tradesmen in order to steal often leave their victims fearful of anyone who knocks on their door. 'No Cold Calling Zones' have proved to be effective in deterring bogus callers and help everyone feel safer in their own homes, which is a top priority for us."
