AN AMBITIOUS attaempt to tackle the issues of "doorstep crime" will be launched in North Yorkshire next week.

A seminar, with top regional speakers, will discuss problems surrounding doorstep sellers.

But it will focus in particular on how to tackle bogus callers who prey on the vulnerable, often using the pretext of selling something or offering to carry out a house repair.

The seminar, at the Cairn Hotel, Harrogate, on November 14, is being organised by North Yorkshire County Council in conjunction with the North of England Trading Standards Group.

Also this month the county council is to organise the largest-ever survey of householders to assess the scale of the problem and people's attitudes towards doorstep sellers. Run by local authorities across the UK, it will involve about 50,000 people.

It follows evidence suggesting only a small proportion of victims ever report incidents, meaning accurate figures of the scale of the problem are very difficult to obtain.

But a recent Help the Aged survey reported that 300,000 older people were targeted in the last 12 months in bogus caller crimes. In the Yorkshire and Humberside region, the survey reported that 28,000 older people were targeted.

Recent reports to North Yorkshire's trading standards service include householders being "ripped off" for thousands of pounds by asphalt gangs, who often use strong-arm tactics and deception to persuade the elderly to part with their savings.

In another case, an elderly Scarborough man paid nearly £4,000 to a bogus roof repairer, who spent a couple of hours on site and has never been seen since.

County Councillor John Dennis, executive member for the business and community services directorate, said: "This is a very serious issue and the answers will not be easy. Everybody needs to be aware of how these criminals operate so that every organisation can play its part."

Updated: 11:31 Wednesday, November 06, 2002