Warning issued over fish-selling cold callers targeting local residents

Police and Trading standards officers are warning residents of the dangers of dealing with doorstep callers selling fish, following a recent spate of incidents across Yorkshire.

Despite recent investigations and successful prosecutions by the North East Trading Standards Regional Investigation Team, multiple incidents have been reported to Police and Trading Standards over the past three months. These have taken place both North and East Yorkshire

The incidents have involved allegations of aggressive sales tactics, mis-described fish and poor quality and inedible fish.

Following the latest incident which occurred in Bridlington, Humberside Police issued the following statement on social media; “We have recently had several reports of a #fishy door to door salesman in the Bridlington area.

“A male has been knocking on doors offering to sell fish, asking for money up front, then failing to return with the goods.

“Please be vigilant when opening your door to strangers and do not hand over money to anyone before receiving goods. If it looks and sounds dodgy, it probably is!

“If this happens to you or you can provide us with any information please call us using the 101 nonemergency number

Trading Standards advice is never to deal with cold callers at the door, including those selling fish as well as those offering property repairs and gardening services.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Andrew Lee, Executive Member for Trading Standards said: “It is disappointing that, despite the enforcement action taken in the North East, these offenders still insist on coming into North Yorkshire to target our residents. It is also disappointing that despite many previous warnings, members of the public are not turning these cold callers away and having nothing to do with them.

“We know reporting levels for these incidents are low and suspect that many more incidents are taking place. Our primary concern is protecting vulnerable residents who are being targeted by these cold callers. We encourage all residents again to refuse to deal with all cold callers and to report incidents to us or the police to help us to build intelligence about these offenders and take action where appropriate.”

Residents can make reports to trading standards via the Citizens’ Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06 and to the police on 101. In urgent cases, reports should be made to the police on 999.