LISTEN: Elgin Pensioner Speaks Out After Garden Con

A Moray pensioner has spoken out after she was conned out of thousands of pounds by workmen who cold-called offering to tidy her garden.

Widow Mary Brander, 86, ended up paying out £3200 to have her small front garden laid with gravel.

A local contractor has confirmed that the true value of the work was less than £800.

Now Mrs Brander, from Elgin, who uses a walking frame and a wheelchair, has warned other people not to fall into the same trap.

MFR Reporter Derek Ferguson speaks with Mrs Brander about her ordeal...

"I know I won't get my money back but I just wouldn't want it to happen to anybody else," she said.

Last week she answered the door of her home in the Bishopmill area of Elgin to find the caller offering to carry out work on her front garden, part of which was covered in stone slabs and the rest in weeds.

Keen to have her garden tidied, Mrs Brander was initially told by the caller that the work could cost her £3200 but by the time the job was half done it had risen to £4000.

Mrs Brander's daughter and son-in-law, Linda and Michael Chalmers, intervened when the men offered to take her to the bank to withdraw the money for the work.

Instead, they took her to the bank and returned to find one of the workmen sitting on the garden wall waiting to be paid.

"We were not going to pay them £4000 and we offered £2500 but they would not accept that," said Mrs Chalmers.

"In the end we gave them £3200 because my mother lives alone and there was no way we could take the chance of them coming back once we had gone."

She said the man had been persistent and quite aggressive, adding: "He was not going to go away until he got what he wanted."

Her mother had not received an invoice or any breakdown of the cost of the work, which involved lifting the slabs, digging out the weeds and putting down a layer of gravel.

Mrs Brander said she had learned a hard lesson but hoped that her experience would serve as a warning to others.

"I wish I had just shut the door on him," she said. "I should have known when I asked him where he was from and he said 'Just out the road a bit'."

Moray Council's trading standards section is now working with Police Scotland to investigate the case and is keen to trace those involved.

Trading standards manager Peter Adamson said: "Our advice is never agree to having work done of the doorstep.

"People are in no position to check the price of the work and will find they are unable to contact the trader when anything goes wrong.

"In many cases, these traders try to take advantage of elderly and vulnerable people which is why we would ask relatives, friends and neighbours to be on their guard."

Chief Inspector Willie Findlay of Police Scotland said "Bogus workmen and rogue traders pray on the vulnerable in our communities and commit quite unscrupulous crimes.

"The longer lasting effect of those crimes can be very hard to take for the victims.

"Work carried out is very often sub-standard and waste can be disposed of illegally impacting on the local area.

"There are groups active in Moray at present and my officers are working with Trading Standards to ensure the damage they cause is minimised."