TRADING standards officials are backing moves to get cold callers banned after a survey showed people living in the county did not welcome the sellers.

Last November, 15 trading standards authorities throughout the country, including Durham County Council, conducted a doorstep selling survey as part of National Consumer Week.

In the county, 2,500 forms were distributed randomly and to a sample of elderly people, with 858 being returned.

Of those who responded, 97 per cent - slightly more than the national average - said they did not want doorstep sellers, with only 0.1 per cent welcoming them.

The survey also revealed that people in County Durham receive a high level of cold callers.

Fifty-five per cent of respondents said they had been cold called in the previous three months, and about ten per cent said they had had a bad experience with cold callers in the past two years.

The most complaints related to energy sellers, followed by double glazing and houseware vendors. Less than 12 per cent of those surveyed asked for identification, and few people said they used security measures like door chains.

Now, following a demand by the national Trading Standards Institute for legislation banning cold calling, Durham officials are adding their support.

Phillip Holman, Durham's head of trading standards, said: "Over the last few years, there have been quite clear links between cold callers and distraction burglars.

"There is evidence that they trade names of people they have successfully conned and that they prey on elderly women.

"We have had some videos produced for elderly people about how to avoid this type of problem and how people should deal with someone who reports this type of problem.

"We are starting to talk to social services and home and healthcare providers, and we have also got some of the major utilities to sign up to a cold calling protocol."