FRAUDSTERS are the target of a police initiative to get people to bar cold callers from their neighbourhoods.

Officers been visiting houses urging people to make their streets no cold calling zones, or an 'NCCZ' in police lingo.

Codenamed Operation Monarda, the national campaign running across Scotland is aimed at stopping cowboy builders ripping off vulnerable people with jobs they claim need done to their properties. 

These jobs are often done badly, over priced and not actually needed in the slightest. Sometimes, these rogue traders have taken thousands of pounds out of the hands of a confused pensioner.

The Clydebank Post met up with officers on Norse Road, Scotstoun, to find out more about what the force is doing on the ground. They visited 333 doors to speak to members of the public.

PC Callum Yuill told the Post: "In the Scotstoun area there are a number of us going from door to door in order to raise awareness with residents about no cold calling zones as part of an initial consultation phase over their implementation in these streets."

"There have been incidents here in the past and it is a crime which is generally under reported. 

"Going out and speaking to people today, it gives us another angle, another measure, to talk to people and raise awareness not only of the dangers of cold calling but the initiative of no cold calling zones."

The operation was carried out from 8am to 4pm on Wednesday, April 27, and the Post dropped by in the afternoon at Norse Road near Vancouver Avenue in Scotstoun.

Officers were busy - ironically - cold calling people and speaking to residents about NCCZs, and about the issue in general. They handed out stickers they could put on their doors.

Trading Standards had also joined officers throughout the day across the area, where cops were also stopping and checking trades vehicles to ensure all licences were in hand and everything was legally sound.

The idea of turning a neighbourhood into an NCCZ is usually one taken up by the community itself.

Cold callers who visit an NCCZ are actually breaking the law and could end up in prison. It's in the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Retired oil and gas worker Gerald McKenna, 64, lives in the area and praised Operation Monarda as a good idea.

Resident there of 35 years said: "I saw a programme once where an elderly lady was scammed out of around £1,200. A rogue tradesman had put a dead squirrel in her gutter and told her her roof was infested and had to be cleaned, when it was actually completely fine It was all caught on a hidden camera, thankfully. 

"It's a problem, rogue traders like that, and I think what the police are doing here is really good. There are a lot of elderly people in the area who could benefit from a cold calling ban." 

Householders interested in setting up a no cold calling zone can visit www.tradingstandards.uk/policy/doorstopperswelcome.cfm for more information. Or, visit www.scotland.police.uk.