Neighbourhood Watch

Cambridgeshire Trading Standards regularly receive enquiries from consumers complaining of the activities of doorstep salespersons. These range from itinerant traders offering to lop trees, repair roofs, tarmac drives, to alleged house security, gas and electric supply experts and high-pressure double glazing salesmen. The common complaint is excessive payments being requested for poor quality goods or services. To help combat this problem and offer assistance in particular to the elderly and vulnerable, surrounding Trading Standards Authorities have joined to promote The Doorstep Initiative.

The main purpose is to advise and educate consumers on their rights when approached by sellers on the doorstep. As from July this year, a Doorstep Hotline telephone number - 0845 6044466 (local rate) will be available for you to seek advice and information. The Doorstep Initiative also seeks to work with and keep other agencies informed of rogue traders involved.

Cambridgeshire Trading Standards offers the following advice:

• Do not be pressurised into having work done that you do not want or need even if the trader tells you it is urgent.

• If you are considering spending a large amount of money on goods or services, always shop around and obtain 3 quotes for any work before you choose a trader.

• Never pay large amounts of cash. Insist on writing a cheque so that in the event of a problem, Trading Standards officers can trace the person that received your money.

• Always get the name, address and telephone number of traders, so that you and Trading Standards have somewhere to contact should anything go wrong.

• Be a good neighbour. If you see work being carried out at a neighbour's house, check that your neighbour knows about the Trading Standards campaign.

• If you are suspicious, call Trading Standards on 0845 3030666. Don't forget to take down the registration number of any vehicles.

Consumers and Traders can obtain help and advice on doorstep selling and other aspects of trading standards law by contacting Cambridgeshire Trading Standards Service Helpdesk on 0845 3030666 or E-mail trading.standards@camcnty.gov.uk.

As part of the Governments commitment to reduce vehicle crime by 30% over 5 years Cambridgeshire Constabulary have commenced a vehicle crime campaign called Don’t Bother.

The campaign aims to remind owners of vehicles to remove all valuables from view. This is achieved by the distribution of small information cards that measure 3.5” x 7”. Samples of these cards are shown below

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