HELEN GABRIEL and STEPHEN LEWIS look at a successful initiative to drive away doorstop sellers.

TIME is being called on 'cold callers' across the region.

Easingwold has become the latest town in North Yorkshire to adopt a 'no cold calling' zone. And residents hope it will now become the UK's first 'no cold calling' town: a no-go area for doorstep conmen.

North Yorkshire County Council's Trading Standards and North Yorkshire Police are creating the zones across the county, to help protect householders against bogus callers and high pressure salesmen.

The latest project, the fourth in a town in North Yorkshire, following similar schemes in Great Ayton, Pickering and, most recently, Selby, was launched on Easingwold's Broadlea Park estate, with the full backing of the local Neighbourhood Watch programme and local police.

Frank Johnston-Banks, a member of the Broadlea Park Neighbourhood Watch scheme, said: "This is a tremendous thing for our estate and we would like to see it installed throughout all of Easingwold.

"The best way to protect our estate is to protect the whole town. If we become a no-cold-calling town then these people won't even bother to come here."

He said the idea had received support from the council, police and local residents. There have been a number of complaints about cold callers in the town in recent weeks. Mr Johnston-Banks added: "We had a guy who called himself an 'energy consultant' come round a few weeks ago, putting real pressure on people to change their supplier.

"They come round during the day when the more vulnerable people are at home. There were a couple of incidents here last year, where people were charged £700 to have their gutters cleaned.

"My mother-in-law had people come round and offer to do her driveway. They made a mess of it so we went to trading standards, but the people who did it had left false contact details and disappeared.

"There are a lot of elderly people living in the area and we should protect them.

"On this estate we all know each other and look after each other, and one way to do that is by employing this scheme."

County councillor John Fort, a former police officer, said: "This is a good estate to run the scheme because it only has one entrance, so it's very easy to put notices up and cover the whole area.

"There are three more zones already in the pipeline, including Grassington, near Skipton."

North Yorkshire Trading Standards have been asked to give a presentation in Easingwold later this month, to encourage more of the town to take up the scheme.

They are working with local police and community safety groups throughout the county to get more zones up and running.

People in Great Ayton, Pickering and Selby have already noticed a drop in the number of uninvited callers since the creation of their no-cold-calling zones. Coun Fort said complaints had dropped by a third in these areas.

Anyone who feels their neighbourhood would benefit from being a no-cold-calling zone should contact trading standards on 01609 768654.

:: How no cold calling zones work

In areas where all the residents are in full agreement, the trading standards service can create zones in which doorstep salesmen are discouraged from visiting.

Signs and window stickers go up, warning would-be door-to-door sellers they are not welcome. Residents are also usually given a hotline number to police or trading standards to report any uninvited and unwelcome callers.

:: The Doorstoppers campaign

No-cold-calling zones are part of a high-profile campaign launched by North Yorkshire County Council's Trading Standards service to drive away doorstep salesmen.

The campaign includes:

The launch of no-cold-calling zone initiatives, together with Community Safety Partnerships and communities themselves, to prevent cold-callers visiting specific areas.

u The use of a rapid response team from the service's investigations unit to attend doorstep crime incidents, protecting consumers and prosecuting offenders

Issuing thousands of door stickers to consumers, stating doorstep callers are not welcome

Attending special demonstrations with North Yorkshire Police across the county to educate the public

Regular warnings to the public on doorstep 'cons'.

The campaign has already had a major impact on deterring doorstep sellers, trading standards claim.

A survey of householders cross North Yorkshire published last month showed that 51 per cent of consumers had been visited by doorstep traders in the previous three months, compared to 73 per cent in 2002.

Graham Venn, head of North Yorkshire County Council's Trading Standards service, added: "We are committed to tackling doorstep crime in whatever way we can and working with other agencies and communities themselves. Doorstep callers often target the most vulnerable members of society and we will do everything we can to protect them."

:: Pickering and Selby

Pickering's first no cold calling zone was set up at the end of last year in the town's Willow Court area - making it the second in North Yorkshire, after one in Great Ayton.

It has the full backing of Ryedale Community Safety Partnership, which is keen to expand the scheme.

Ana Richards, Safer Ryedale manager, said the move would help to boost Safer Ryedale's overall approach to deterring unwanted callers.

She said: "We have developed a series of playlets to help residents deal with bogus callers and used our 'Handyvan' scheme to provide affordable support to improve home security. This latest initiative can only add weight to the inroads already made to protect residents against dodgy tradesmen."

A second no-cold-calling zone was set up in the Lendales area of the town last month.

Selby's first such zone was established in the town's Charles Street area on January 12.

:: Doorstep calling and crime

Any one of three crimes can follow the knock on the door from a doorstep trader:

Distraction burglary: Where one 'trader' will keep the occupant talking, while another often unnoticed accomplice scours the house for valuables and money.

Obtaining property by deception: The 'trader' will deceive the victim into handing over property or money in return for the provision of property or services which the 'trader' never intended to provide.

Improperly conducted property repairs or gardening maintenance: The trader will convince the occupant of the house that emergency repairs are needed, usually for something that is difficult to check. These jobs often don't need doing, and they charge the occupant extortionate amounts of money to carry out the work.

:: Calling card...

NOT everyone thinks no-cold-calling zones are a good idea. Not surprisingly, among those against them is the Direct selling association, which represents direct sellers such as Avon Cosmetics.

DSA director Richard Berry says his organisation is committed to stamping out rogue traders - but by banishing all doorstep tradesmen, no cold calling zones are restricting consumer choice.

"The direct selling of consumer goods is now a £2 billion channel of distribution in the UK with UK consumers placing more than 70 million individual orders ever year with direct sellers - mainly women running small part-time businesses selling the products of long-established companies," he said.

"Consumers don't want their shopping choices restricted to the big retailers and supermarkets - they want a wider choice with better customer service with free delivery to their homes."

Updated: 10:09 Thursday, February 02, 2006