ROGUE traders and door-to-door confidence tricksters can be a scourge on rural communities, praying on the elderly and the vulnerable.

A Wiltshire Council initiative has been working successfully across the county to tackle this problem.

No Cold Call Zones (NCCZs) have been set up around Wiltshire and communities have seen a reduction in attempts by rogue traders and conmen to extort residents as a result.

The initiative has been running for ten years nationwide and Sue Wilkin, senior public protection officer at Wiltshire Council, is encouraging communities in north Wiltshire to get involved.

“This is about protecting the elderly from rogue trading, which is a problem across all rural areas,” she said.

“Elderly people can part with quite large amounts of money.”

NCCZs are signposted by street signs and stickers on residents’ doors that state that cold callers are not welcome in the area.

The legal premise for the initiative is that the stickers and street signs represent a formal request for cold callers to leave. This has yet to be tested in court as Mrs Wilkin says “people don’t tend to persist” in NCCZs.

“If a zone is put in place in a street with elderly or vulnerable people it can protect them within that zone as long as people stick to the principle of no deals being done on the doorstep,” she said.

“When there is a sticker on every door it does have the effect.

“The street signs say it’s an offence to stay at properties after being asked leave.

“You’re never not never going to have a cold caller, but the scheme tends to deter people that have crime on their mind.

“They want to be in and out without too much notice, so this scheme can make the caller aware that there is an awareness in that location of cold calling and it is likely to be reported.”

One concern people have aired with the zones is that they highlight areas where vulnerable people might be. Mrs Wilkin said in response: “Rogue traders do not need a sticker to identify a vulnerable household.”

The zones are no longer set up by the council and must now be set up by the community with help from their parish council.

“Get in touch with your local councillors who can request funding from area board to set the zones up,” urged Mrs Wilkin.

“I will always offer support to people who want to set this up.”

Each zone will cost roughly £40 for producing signs for a close or street and stickers are provided by Wiltshire Council.