I Stood Up To Rogue Traders

Elsie and her neighbours had bullying “workman” convicted.

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When the residents of a Bolton street were targeted by a rogue trader, they decided that enough was enough.

Neighbours Elsie Derbyshire, Lorene Walker and Sylvia Hardman were three of many local households who fell foul of an aggressive tradesman who used intimidating tactics to get them to pay for having their driveways re-laid – work most of them did not actually want.

“We are in a row of private bungalows,” explains Elsie. “This man started off at the top bungalow, doing the path to the front door. I asked him if he could put an extra line of flagstones down my driveway. However, after he started he kept knocking at the door demanding more and more money. I told him that I didn’t have more money until he had done the job. Then the next minute he’d taken my flags up – and next door’s too!”

He was doing all sorts of things elsewhere in the street as well. One resident went to the shop one day and when she came back, he had taken her flags up. Another was even taken to the cash point to get more money out.