SCHOOLCHILDREN have joined the fight against bogus doorstep callers.

Youngsters from 17 primary schools in the Hambleton district of North Yorkshire worked with the area's community safety partnership to help their elderly relatives and neighbours.

Each child was given a specially designed Christmas card containing safety tips to colour in and give to an elderly relative.

The cards spelt out what to do if faced with a bogus caller as well as information about how to protect the home from doorstep crime.

Community safety officer Alison Oldfield said: "Older people always treasure pictures given by children, so we hope they will do just that with these cards.

"In that way they can have the key messages about doorstep crime and bogus callers to hand all the time.

"We believe it is very important that young children are alerted to the importance of home safety and the dangers we can all face. This initiative allows us to visit schools as part of our campaign to create a safer environment in which to live."

The Northern Echo has joined forces with trading standards groups to launch the Doorstoppers campaign.

Its aim is to raise awareness of the dangers of bogus callers and distraction burglaries. It also aims to press for a change in the law to combat door-to-door property repair tradesmen.