Milton Keynes Council Trains Age Concern Watchdogs

8.05.55pm GMT Sun 14th Nov 2004

Milton Keynes Council is training Age Concern volunteers to help the fight against consumer cons.

Older people will be able to access vital advice about doorstep sellers and consumer cons, as well as their legal rights, after the Council's Trading Standards team stepped up to train local members of the charity.

A total of forty employees of Age Concern MK, who all deal direct with older people, took part in an intensive training session focusing on shopping problems and consumer concerns.

Trading Standards staff told the charity's workers about the legal rights of shoppers and the types of scam currently active in the area. The latter include several doorstep scams, bogus telephone win lines and expensive schemes to purchase mobility aids. Age Concern volunteers will now be able to spread the information among their clients.

The training was carried out as part of the MK Consumer Support Network (CSN) project, a government initiative to improve consumer knowledge and confidence.

Liberal Democrat Cabinet member Councillor Douglas McCall, said: "By training people in other organisations, we are increasing the pool of people who are available to advise the public on their rights as consumers and how to protect themselves against the con merchants".