TRADING standards chiefs are preparing for their biggest-ever crackdown on the menace of unwanted doorstep callers.

A campaign is to be launched across North Yorkshire in an effort to slam the door on cold-callers.

In the lead-up to the initiative, an early-warning email network is being established to keep people aware of suspicious activity anywhere in the county.

The system can be used two ways - with the trading standards team passing out warnings or by those affected sending back alerts.

Already, the team, in Northallerton, have an extensive email list of contacts with more added on a daily basis.

They include parish and district councils, Citizens Advice Bureaux, police, neighbourhood watch schemes, libraries and a host of other organisations and groups.

"You can't tell the crooks from the good guys and doorstep calling is something that is no longer necessary," said the county's head of trading standards Stuart Pudney.

"Our message is going to be just don't use them."

A survey of 2,000 people in the county last year showed the depth of feeling of the county's householders.

Almost 98 per cent of those surveyed said they didn't want people cold-calling at their homes and 10 per cent had had a bad experience with doorstep sellers over the past two years.

The county council's executive member with responsibility for trading standards, Carl Les, said: "If these results are an indicator of the general population then 24,000 households in North Yorkshire have had bad experiences with one or more cold-calling doorstep sellers."

Mr Pudney said: "The email system has been operating for a few months on a limited basis and is being expanded all the time. We can immediately flash out warnings with posters that can be printed out and stuck on windows.

"It costs nothing and we can do it selectively to various parts of the county or to different sectors.

"We very much encourage feedback and they can email us back so we can take action ourselves."