A "Knocker" was out and about on the Magdalen estate in the sunshine today.

But instead of the slightly hard-bitten young man in a hoodie and tracksuit bottoms there was a woman trying a new approach.

Dressed as if going to a cocktail party in high heels, hair done up , a party dress and plenty of make-up I firstly mistook her for a party guest who has mistakenly come to the wrong address when I saw her through our side window.

I was just about to open the door when I spotted that , at her feet, was that familiar plastic tray full of the oh-so-familiar tat-products of dishcloths, tea towels and sponges.

So I left the door unanswered - no doubt her tactic is hoping the "man of the house" answers so she can put her eyelash fluttering tactics to good use!

Stop Chain and Check - could be a distraction burglary tactic!

I've only seen evidence of the mysterious gangmasters once, a few years back.

I was walking the dog early on the Common near Bolingbroke Grove when a tatty Transit van pulled up and disgorged five or six people.

They seemed to be in a hurry and pulled out a number of "bread crates" full of the normal dish cloths and tea towels etc from the van (this was before they all moved to large holdalls for their tat) before the driver sped off leaving his passengers to sort themselves out.

They then fanned out, some crossed Nightingale Lane towards Ravenslea Road, others headed towards Northcote Road.

They were all consulting sheets of paper so naturally I assumed routes and targeted roads had been picked out for each "Knocker" - and I guess a pick-up rendesvous point forlater iin the day had all been planned as well),

All in all a slick operation, obviously practised many times in the past!

Thanks for the advice Denward. Next time it happens (any day now that the weather is finally improving), I will go out my front door and shut it behind me to tell him to go, rather than having a "conversation" with him on my doorstep, while he clocks the house. I'm interested to know more about the gang masters behind this sort of abuse, though.

And were on winsham grove on Friday

Mostly I don't answer the door if I've seen them from an upstairs window, but I always put the chain on before I unlock, helps to avoid problems.

As expected the first days of spring brings them out with their huge holdalls full of tat and pretending to be on "Government Sponsored Schemes" to train them in door to door selling.

Rubbish!

Just be aware when your doorbell rings in the afternoon - they were out and about on the Magdalen estate today!

These "knockers", as I beleive they are called, have been a sore point with me for some time.

Police and councils have constantly said that there are no official schemes for ex-offenders that involve door-to-door selling, what future jobs are they training for? Selling door-to-door is hardly a large and expanding industry in this country.

No they are scams plain and simple.

Cheap sub-standard domestic cleaning items bought by a group relying on the innocence and sympathy of householders to sell goods people don't need at inflated prices.

They used to use plastic "bread trays" to carry their tat now they all use large nylon holdalls carried on their backs with two handles looped around their arms, I have seen groups of four or five of them either having been dropped off by the gangmaster in a van - or at the end of the day going back to the pick-up point.

Working from home I try to remember to look out of the window to see who's ringing my bell but occasionally I have been caught and have to politley tell them I'm not interested - a tip here is not to let them say "If you can let me tell you my side" because that leads to a wasted five to ten minutes of made up dribble followed by upsetting rudeness (at best).

My tactic is to instantly say ,before they have a chance to start their speil;

"Oh no not another one! Sorry mate your the second bloke to knock on my door this week - I've bought enough stuf thankyou" and close the door. Since their tactic is to keep talking and engage you in conversation so as to wear you down this works a treat as they are momentarily speecjles for long enough for you to escape.

These "knockers", as I beleive they are called, have been a sore point with me for some time.

Police and councils have constantly said that there are no official schemes for ex-offenders that involve door-to-door selling, what future jobs are they training for? Selling door-to-door is hardly a large and expanding industry in this country.

No they are scams plain and simple.

Cheap sub-standard domestic cleaning items bought by a group relying on the innocence and sympathy of householders to sell goods people don't need at inflated prices.

They used to use plastic "bread trays" to carry their tat now they all use large nylon holdalls carried on their backs with two handles looped around their arms, I have seen groups of four or five of them either having been dropped off by the gangmaster in a van - or at the end of the day going back to the pick-up point.

Working from home I try to remember to look out of the window to see who's ringing my bell but occasionally I have been caught and have to politley tell them I'm not interested - a tip here is not to let them say "If you can let me tell you my side" because that leads to a wasted five to ten minutes of made up dribble followed by upsetting rudeness (at best).

My tactic is to instantly say ,before they have a chance to start their speil;

"Oh no not another one! Sorry mate your the second bloke to knock on my door this week - I've bought enough stuf thankyou" and close the door. Since their tactic is to keep talking and engage you in conversation so as to wear you down this works a treat as they are momentarily speecjles for long enough for you to escape.

I got them last night too and opened the door because was expecting a delivery. He said that he is ex-prison (that's nice!) and this is his rehabilitation job - which I doubt very much . I said no thanks and he got nasty. There must have been a group of them because my neighbour had the same thing happen but it was a different man.

We too had a chap turn up at our door of an evening last month.
He looked despondent when I opened the door. Not such an easy sell...

There has in the past been documented evidence that sellers such as these are "organised" work for a "gang master" and are usually fresh from the London university of criminality, ie prison.

In the past I have actually bought kitchen sponges from one of these guys. quality was okay, but I digress.
Apart from trying to sell goods, they are clocking everything, you, the hallway, locks, kids, dogs, key tables, panic alarm locations, look and value of goods, the lot...

If you feel you want to buy something from them and you do not have money on you. Shut the door with him outside, get your money and open the door again.
quite often he will have gone...

We have also had the odd door to door chugger, I never sign up, short thrift I'm afraid .... I will give to charity sellers of poppys, macmillan fundraising and similar, but kids collecting for football, NEVER. Clubs do not collect in that way.

I will say, my eldest daughter and her friend cooked fairy cakes and made lemonade and sold it door to door and collected £65 for cancer research!!! (I think most people gave money to take their fare away!!)

Heads up for a man selling door to door household products in Tooting.

A late 20's man came to our house at dinner time 7pm last eve and was extremely rude and insistent that he sell something - wouldn't give up and explained that he just got out of prison and needed money for a place in a hostel for the night. He went as far as to push the door a bit - to get rid of him I bought something and gave him £20 to go away.

I was alone in the house so felt very vulnerable - shouldn't have opened the door but was expecting Amazon delivery.

Alerted the police - these people are not legitimate, do not purchase and if possible, try to get photos of their ID or of them...and send to police.

I say, do not open the door!!