Hi
Not sure if this is a scam but it made me nervous...

I live just off St James Drive and yesterday had a chap knock on the door. To put this politely he looked a little rough around the edges and he was on his own. He said he was from our binman crew and he wanted to wish me a happy easter!

I said thank you and wished him one back and then he went off very quickly.

What is odd is that I had assumed he was fishing for money but he was off so quickly I didn't even have a chance to grab my purse (not sure if I would have anyway but thats a different issue).

So I have four questions...

Did anyone else around Wandsworth Common get a similar visitor?
Did you recognise him?
Do you think he was scamming for money or looking to see if the house was empty for a burgulary?

Sorry if this comes across as a bit scaremongering but I hate this sort of stuff and it made me quite nervous.

Thanks for reading

HFS

Yes! i had the same guy come to my door...i didnt understand what he was saying and he repeated.." We put empty your bins every week, Happy Easter" and off he went! my husband thought he might have been begging for money but he was practically off to the next house by the time he finished his sentence and he never asked for money! it was all so odd...i thought maybe he was looking for empty houses. i called the nightengale crime unit as i thought it was so strange but, but no one has returned my call. it was all VERY odd!! he was wearing a dark blue jacket and tracksuit bottoms and a red t-shirt and was quite a tall broad guy. Was this the same guy??

Wow that sounds very weird I can't imagine them just coming around to every house and saying Happy Easter, very odd and would make me feel very concerned!

We have just gotten back from up North and our neighbour said he scared off too youths trying to get into our bedroom window!

Hello

I am the neighbourhood watch administrator for St James's Drive and 2 people have alerted me about the same guy. I have spoken to the police at the Nightingale unit and they are looking into it. I will also pass on your comments. It does sound a little odd.

Thanks

A similar thing has happened the last few Christmases. Wandsworth Council put a notice on their website a couple of years ago to say that the door knockers were bogus binmen as their bin men are not allowed to tout for tips from customers. A couple of years ago it was a large group knocking on the doors at Christmas and I did naively give them a tip which they happily took. It could have been a different group of people altogether but the activity may well have been copied by other bogus binmen too! The key point is that Wandsworth Council don't allow their bin men to do this - arguably there's nothing wrong with wishing customers a happy easter if not asking for money (and if fact it would be rather nice!) but I would have thought no genuine bin man would risk his job by doing this in case it was misinterpreted as touting for tips - a sackable offence. The police ought to be a bit hotter on this as it's happened before and Wandsworth Council are clearly aware of it and have already warned people!

I live near St. James Dr./Brodrick Rd area and the same man came to my door just before Easter too! We are American, so I didn't know if this as something the Council put the garbage men up to or not. He was off so fast he couldn't even have had a glimpse into my house or receive a tip if I were to give it. Perhaps he was seeing who DIDN'T answer the door (On vacation) as homes to target over Easter. It was a ll very weird.

He visited us in Streathbourne Road as well. I assumed he was looking for an Easter tip like a Christmas Box but I never hand out money to door visitors anyway in case they are a scam. I think it's only traditional to give a Christmas box and even then I'd wait until the bin men came around and give it to them then so I could be sure he was one of them.

Hi, i live on Upper Tooting Park and was visited by the same guy on Easter Monday. I did not actually answer the door as I had had a previously scary episode in February when a guy tried to get in my house. He rang the door and my daughter went up to it, i looked through the window and told her we were not answering it and we went back into the kitchen. Five minutes later the door rang again and when I looked he was still standing there. At that point I did feel nervous but persisted with not answering and eventually he left.

On the other occasion in February a man smartly dressed in a suit called under the guise of chatting to me about crime in the area, normally I always close the door quickly however I listened to him for a couple of minutes and then suddenly became aware that someone else was with him and hiding just around the corner of my door, at which point the man in the suit made a move to step inside my door so I pushed the door against his foot and shut it.

Basically I now never answer the door unless i know who it is and certainly never in the evening and have told my children to never open the door under any circumstances.

[Administrator]

We have had the following response from Wandsworth Council...I think its great to know that they are so concerned.
A

"As some of your readers have correctly stated, Wandsworth Council does not allow its tradesmen to ask for tips. If someone knocks on your door asking for money and claiming to work for us, they are a conman. Our community safety unit is working with the local police to catch this man. In the meantime, if you have spotted anything suspicious or wish to check if someone really does work for Wandsworth Council, call our refuse collection customer services number on (020) 8871 8558." Cllr Sarah McDermott, executive member for environment and leisure.

I've just seen this on the Wandsworth Guardian, something to be wary of!

http://www.yourlocalguardian.co.uk/news ... ge/?ref=mr

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Hi

Not sure if this is connected but we live in Southfields and a recent scam
was as follows:

2 men were knocking on doors. If the occupant answered the door then the men said Hello, just wondering if your gutters need cleaning. However it was just a test to see if anyone was home. If nobody answered the door the men started stripping leading of the front of the doorways/porch roof area.

My husband is a retired police officer and is always on the look out for
criminals. He followed these two men and to cut a long story short, they
were caught stealing our neighbours porch roof (yes, the whole thing!) This happened about 10 days ago. Luckily my husband alerted the police and the men were arrested.

It happened in broad daylight and I guess if most of us had passed by and
seen 2 men up a ladder removing a roof they would have thought it was just workmen.