IN April 2003, 80-year-old Alzheimer's sufferer Herbert Newton opened the door of his Huntington home to Joseph Horner.

Mr Newton was not to know that the builder on his doorstep had a string of convictions for deception and misleading customers. Horner, by contrast, knew only too well that here was a gilt-edged chance to fleece an unsuspecting pensioner. He charged him more than £1,600 for work he never completed. It was "a mean, nasty crime" said the judge in court last week.

Horner is by no means the only criminal working door-to-door. All too regularly we carry stories detailing how con artists and thieves swindled and stole from householders. They are a despicable breed who prey on the most vulnerable in society.

North Yorkshire Trading Standards is at the forefront of the fight against them. This year it launched the awareness-raising Doorsteppers campaign and distributed thousands of stickers warning cold callers they were "Not Welcome Here".

Now it has introduced the first No Cold Calling zone at Great Ayton. Those who ignore the zone can be reported to trading standards officers who might take legal action against them.

The Direct Selling Association complains this is an attack on consumer choice. But the truth is almost everyone finds doorstep hawkers a nuisance or worse.

In a Cambridgeshire pilot of the scheme, distraction burglaries dropped by 11 per cent. If something similar happens at Great Ayton, most residents would like to see the whole of York and North Yorkshire become a No Cold Calling zone.

Updated: 10:15 Wednesday, November 02, 2005