Is this a scam?
Added on 14 February 2014
We've all experienced it. Somebody comes, uninvited, to the door selling something, and you either buy it or turn them away.
But when a man with a pick-up arrived at a home in Breckles offering to sell and spread gravel on the drive, the householder wondered.
Firstly, he priced it by the square metre, rather than cubic metre, which was odd. After all, the amount of gravel involved would depend on how thickly (or thinly) it was spread. So how would you know whether you were getting value for money?
The visitor said it was 'left over' from a job undertaken by a neighbour, so after turning the seller away (the drive didn't really need any attention anyway), our resident contacted the neighbour, and found out that he hadn't had any work done, and didn't recognise the man with a van, or his vehicle at all!
So, did our mystery man just say the wrong name? Or was the gravel stolen? Or would he effectively only have scattered a few handfuls in exchange for an over-large payment?
Whatever the truth, details (including pictures of the man and his vehicle, taken from CCTV) have now been passed to the police, using their non-emergency 101 number. Perhaps if you are visited by the same man you should do the same.