Lincolnshire Trading Standards officers are asking residents in the county to be aware of bogus callers offering to resurface their driveways.
Both the authority and Lincolnshire Police have received reports of traders pretending to be council road workers selling left-over tarmac at a low price.
These people are not from the council or a council contractor, and a professional would not engage in this activity.
Warning signs of scams include not telling you the upfront cost, only accepting cash, offering too good to be true deals and using unmarked vehicles.
Angela Kane, senior trading standards officer, said: “With the weather getting warmer, more and more people are starting to tidy up their gardens and driveways.
“This provides plenty of opportunities for dodgy dealers to con residents into buying their services, whether this be mowing lawns, resurfacing driveways or creating pathways, amongst others.
“Just this week, we’ve been contacted by a number of Lincolnshire residents who have been pressurised into paying for shoddy driveways completed by rogue traders pretending to be from the council.
“Common tactics used by these rogue traders have included professional-looking advertising, cold-calling, and high-pressure selling.”
Paul Coathup, assistant director of highways and transportation at Lincolnshire County Council, said: “It’s disgraceful that these fraudsters are masquerading as council officers to trick members of the public.
“It goes without saying that Lincolnshire County Council’s road maintenance teams would never engage in activity like this and neither would our contractors. Anyone working for the council will have an ID that verifies who they are.
“I would urge people to check the ID of doorstep callers and contact the police and trading standards if they are suspicious.”
Trading Standards advises people to get written quotes to compare, always use reputable companies that are recommended or a part of an approved trader scheme, and never feel pressured to buy.
If you are approached by someone trying to sell tarmac, note their description and vehicle details and report it to Lincolnshire Trading Standards on 01522 782341.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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