Doorstep scammers and rogue traders in Buckinghamshire were targeted during a police crackdown this week.

Officers challenged nine doorstep traders, made 12 person checks and stopped eight suspect vehicles during the joint operation on Wednesday, May 10.

Teams of Trading Standards officers and Thames Valley Police patrolled the county’s rogue trader hot spots and ran checks in Wycombe using automatic number plate recognition.

From 2016 to 2017 more than 100 rogue trader and doorstep scam incidents were reported in Bucks, according to Trading Standards manager Lee Ormandy, however only around 10 per cent of cases are actually reported.

Driveways, gardening and roofing account for the top three scams by rogue traders in Buckinghamshire, the highest value being a £20,000 roofing fraud in Gerrards Cross.

Mr Ormandy said: “Rogue traders spell misery for residents and undermine genuine businesses, and our day of action with the police sends a clear message to conmen that they’re not welcome in Buckinghamshire."

While there are no firm Trading Standards estimates of the recent cost of scamming to Buckinghamshire residents, Mr Ormandy said that when incidents were reported early, intervention by officers had saved victims more than £55,000 in the past year.

It is expected that victims will get some of their money back as in February, Aylesbury Crown Court Judge Francis Sheridan imposed a confiscation order of £241,000 on businessman Gary Booker.

Booker laundered some of the hundreds of thousands of pounds scammed from two elderly Buckinghamshire residents in 2013 for roofing work worth under £600.

Steve Ruddy, head of Buckinghamshire and Surrey Trading Standards, said: “The initiative was a key part of our work to make the lives of cold-calling criminals difficult and raise awareness of their tactics but joint work with the police and other organisations carries on throughout the year.”