Crackdown launched on Black Country cowboy traders

Neighbourhood officers have been visiting properties in Belle Vale and Hayley Green.

They have been carrying out checks on tradesmen carrying out work on properties to ensure they are trading legally.

It's the latest action to be taken by police who are working with Dudley Council's trading standards team and follows a similar crackdown in Brierley Hill.

Signs are being installed in Halesowen to warn rogue traders they will be reported if they 'cold call' in a new No Rogue Trader Zone, which has been set up.

Officers took to the streets last week to hand out crime prevention advice to residents living in streets that have been previously targeted by bogus-callers and rogue traders.

As part of the initiative leaflets were delivered advising residents to be alert to people turning up unannounced and convince them to get costly and unnecessary work carried out on their homes.

Pest control, path cleaning and hedge trimming are said to be just some of the common cons with other fraudsters claiming to be carrying out water main repairs or even posing as police officers.

Sergeant Heather Sloan, of the Belle Vale and Hayley Green neighbourhood teams, said: "Initiatives like this are really beneficial to our elderly and vulnerable members of the community.

"Working with trading standards has enabled us to flood over 15 streets across the area offering crime prevention advice and reassurance to those who need it." John Millar, director of urban environment at Dudley Council, added: "We work hard as a local authority, in partnership with police, to tackle rogue traders."