Campaigners are demanding for more protection from rogue traders for older people in all areas of Wales.
The charity Age Cymru has revealed that there are huge variations in the way that Welsh councils try to keep out rogue traders and doorstep scammers.
It conducted a Freedom of Information request into the numbers of ‘No Cold Calling Zones’ (areas in which doorstep traders are prohibited) throughout Wales.
There are no zones In four council areas and in others only a tiny fraction of homes are covered, meanwhile other authorities have zones that cover as many as 8,000 homes.
Age Cymru’s Campaigns co-ordinator Gerry Keighley said:
“These zones are important for older people because they should protect them from being confronted by people trying to sell them anything from a new driveway to a conservatory.
“In some cases the traders are conmen who do either shoddy work or none at all but demand payment up front.
“We want to see more and bigger ‘No Cold Calling Zones’, but the cost of creating them must be reduced or we shall stay where we are.
“We are plugging away at the Welsh Government to make the process of creating them to be made easier and cheaper.
“For instance, Trading Standards currently have to contact all households to ask if they want a no cold calling zones, but we have yet to hear of a community which has refused a zone.
“We believe this is unnecessary and time consuming and deters local authorities from creating more zones.”
Clwyd West AM Darren Millar tabled a debate at the Welsh Assembly calling for more No Cold Calling Zones to protect vulnerable older people.
