Peterborough residents warned to be wary of rogue traders offering garden maintenance

On Monday (February 1) Orton Waterville Ward Councillor Juile Howell confirmed that there had been several reports of rogue traders knocking on doors in Orton offering to trim back garden trees.

She has encouraged anyone who sees anything suspicious to call the Police on 101 and to not let anyone into your property as once inside, the men have been seen having a good look around at the contents.

One such person who has experienced this is Parish Councillor for Orton Wistow Barry Warne, who was visited in November.

He said: “There was a knock on the door and it was two men dressed as you would expect for gardeners, one had a jumper on with an official looking motif on it.

“They said that they were from the council doing work for a neighbour and offered to cut back some of the trees that overhang into my garden as a goodwill gesture.

“They said they would only charge £1.80 per kilo of what they took away.

“I believed it at first and let them in but as soon as I started asking questions I became aware that their story was full of holes and they became completely evasive.

“I soon realised that they were not genuine and I asked them to leave, which they did but it was very obvious they were checking out the inside of my house as they were leaving.

“They were very convincing at first and I do worry that someone older and more vulnerable could be taken a lot further into this deception than I was.”

Cambridgeshire Police have issued a range of guidance on how to avoid fraud, these can be found at www.cambs.police.uk/fraud.