CUMBRIA County Council's Trading Standards Department supported a call last week for a national ban on uninvited doorstep callers touting for house repair/garden work.

Around 150 people, including 60 MPs, attended a seminar at Westminster to hear powerful arguments for outlawing doorstep selling of any work connected with property repairs, maintenance and improve ment.

Ron Gainsford, Chief Executive of the Trading Standards Institute said vulnerable people are tricked, intimidated and threatened into paying extortionate amounts of money for work that is either shoddy or unnecessary.