THESE days we're continually pestered by people trying to sell us things we don't want.

Unsolicited phone calls, persistent emails offering too-good-to-be-true deals on foreign timeshares, knocks on the door from people ready to clean the windows or mend the roof - they're enough to drive anyone mad.

Then there are the 'Gag Mag' sellers. They approach people in the city centre, often asking 'do you have a good sense of humour?' before trying to sell their joke magazines for £3 a time.

They may be irritating, but there's nothing illegal about what they do - providing they follow trading guidelines.

But there have been suggestions some sellers try to give the impression they are raising money for charity. And in 2012, City of York Council investigated after being told some sellers were mis-representing themselves and being 'intimidating and aggressive'.

Nothing could be proved at the time. But following a Press investigation into the activities of the sellers published today, the head of York's trading standards team, Matt Boxall, has vowed to take action if there are any further complaints.

So let's be clear. The people selling these magazines don't work for a charity. And they have no right to keep pestering you, or to make you feel guilty for not buying a magazine. A simple, courteous 'no' should be enough to make them leave you alone.

If they don't - and especially if you feel intimidated, or if you think they have wrongly been claiming to represent a charity - you really should report them.

We explain in the newspaper today how you can do that. It may be the only way to stop the Gag Mag nuisances.