Police and Trading Standards issue cold caller warning

Dear Friends,

Please be advised of the message below, be safe!

 

http://www.sussex.police.uk/news-and-events/news/2012/07/27/police-and-trading-standards-issue-cold-caller-warning/

27 July 2012

People should be wary of buying goods from cold callers after dozens of reports of suspicious sellers in villages across Sussex.

Residents have been calling police and Trading Standards about vans turning up in streets and opening their doors to illegally sell chainsaws and televisions amongst other items.

There have been reports of people have paying a high price for the items to find they are cheap and of poor quality.

Sgt Chris O'Leary said: "We have had reports of illegal selling of chainsaws and gardening equipment in numerous locations including Horsham, Littlehampton, Worthing, Uckfield, Hastings, Lewes, Mid Sussex and Rye in recent weeks.

"As a police service we need to reduce the risk to people and warn them to be wary of buying from cold callers. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is. However, at this time, we have not linked the goods to any theft offences."

Louise Baxter, Trading Standards Team Manager at East Sussex County Council, added: "With the recent warmer weather we've seen a rise in incidents of cold calling and illegal sales across East Sussex. We are very concerned, especially when older or vulnerable people in our communities are targeted and we would advise people to avoid the cold callers and only use reputable traders."  

East Sussex County Council has the following advice for people:

• Do not deal with people who knock on your door offering to do home improvement work or want to store their equipment on your property.
• If you do receive such a call, then stop before you answer the door, put the chain on and check the person's credentials. If you do not know the caller do not let them in, as once they are in it may be very difficult to get them to leave. 
• Do not agree to any work where the caller says "we are only in the area today"
  Do not be enticed into hiring the caller on the basis that they will offer you a reduction in price, if you allow them to store their machinery on your property.
• Do not buy TVs or other goods from cold callers or from people selling goods from vans parked in car parks.

East Sussex County Council Trading Standards has a good trader scheme 'Buy With Confidence'.  The list contains a diverse range of businesses including builders, plumbers and gardeners. In East Sussex, to find an Approved Trader please call 01323 463440 (Option 1) or visit http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/buywithconfidence.

 

West Sussex County Council also has advice about cold callers on their website at  http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/living/consumer_advice/consumer_issues/no_cold-calling_at_my_home.aspx along with information about their 'Buy With Confidence' scheme.

For consumer advice on trading standards issues, contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Services line on 08454 040506.

 

 

 

 

John Wright
Chairman
Sussex Neighbourhood Watch Federation.
( Mobile:     07917 385213

Bogus Callers

On Tuesday 24th July at around 09:40 in the morning 3 men called at an address in Leith View Road, Roffey claiming to be from the waterboard and that there was a leak from the address.

Once inside the address, the occupant became suspicious as to their real motives and when he challenged them he was sprayed with an unknown substance, whilst he was distracted, they have then gone on to take a small safe which contained cash and jewellery.

If you saw or heard anything then please call 101 quoting 0403 of 24/07/2012.

The water board should never turn up un-announced at an address and if they do and you are in doubt, you are within your rights to ask to see their ID.

You can always ring the company and ask them directly if they have sent someone out to your address - if they are who they say they are then they should have no problems with showing their ID.

Serial 0665

Serial 0665 21/07/12 11.00hrs

This serial relates to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the Hammerpond Road area on Saturday 21^st July.

The vehicle is a Green Toyota Hiace Powervan (transit type van), VRM Y953DAH

The vehicle was seen to enter someones driveway and reverse out once they had been seen and then stop outside of a neighbours house before heading south towards the B2110.

There was no description of the driver but the passenger was reported to be a white female, of large build with short mousey hair, wearing a white flowery dress.

Please can you report any  further sightings of this vehicle please

Kind regards

PCSO Tracy Field

Community safety/customer satisfaction survey for residents of West Sussex

This is a reminder that West Sussex are conducting a community safety/customer satisfaction survey. They would like to know your views on crime and community safety in your local area and in West Sussex.

 

Police, Local Authorities, NHS, Fire and Rescue Services as well as local community groups work in partnership to reduce crime and disorder to make residents feel safe. WSCC would like to understand your priorities and the areas you think services should be focusing on in the future. This information could be crucial to the new Police and Crime Commissioner who we will be electing in November.

 

If you have not already completed the survey can you please do this as soon as possible? The closing date is 31^st July. The survey is available online herehttp://bit.ly/IIrxdv and takes approximately 10 minutes to complete.

 

Thank you for your continued support for Neighbourhood Watch.

 

Regards

 

John Wright
Chairman
Sussex Neighbourhood Watch Federation.