No cold-call zone extends to Felpham

The 345 households on the Summerley estate have formed a cold calling zone.

Backed by the police and trading standards officers, the status gives them the backing to refuse to deal with unannounced visitors to their homes.

Persistent callers will be informed officially by trading standards officials that they should stay away.

Ken Whitfield, the Neighbourhood Watch area co-ordinator, said the zone would offer further protection to residents.

'We had a very good response to the idea of the no cold callers' zone. No one objected to it. We don't get many cold callers and we want to make sure we don't get any. The estate is, and always has been, a pleasant, safe area and one with low crime, thanks to the diligence of residents and an active Neighbourhood Watch scheme,' he stated.

The zone was launched last Thursday. It is the seventh scheme around the Bognor Regis area and brings the total number of households protected to some 1,750.

Sussex Police reported last week that 78 distraction burglaries had occurred in West Sussex in the first half of this year. That is more than three a week. Nearly all the victims are aged more than 60.

Crime prevention officer Mick Cogger said: 'We are here to protect elderly people against those who are unscrupulous enough to target them. These callers are very plausible and come in several guises with the sole objective of getting inside peoples' houses and stealing their valuables.

'The no cold calling zones reduce the opportunity for those sorts of crimes to take place.

'It is a fact that when once a person falls victim to one of the callers they can be targeted by others. This can cause them to suffer a lot of trauma.'

County council principal trading standards officer Alison Wheeler said: 'We want to help vulnerable residents protect themselves against cold callers.

'The feedback we have had from these zones is that they are working very well. There is the occasional cold caller but they usually go away when they are told about the zone.

'If a person persists, we write to them and say the residents don't appreciate cold callers and tell them to stay away.'