ROGUE traders have conned an 81-year-old Port Glasgow woman out of £1,750 for installing eight feet of fencing and doing some weeding.

The victim, who asked not to be named, is not able to do gardening any more and had read an advert from the company offering weeding services, only to be ripped off.

The company quoted a local telephone number but the victim believes the firm may operate out of Paisley.

The senior citizen said: “I phoned the number and the man who answered told me his name was John Gibson.

"It was hilarious when he turned up.

"The advertisement said, ‘mature tradesmen,’ and he turned up with a couple of 11-year-old boys.

"They went at the weeds with a couple of trowels and while they were working he put his heel on the fence and said, ‘that fence really needs to be renewed.’

“The rest of the fencing had all been done in the past and that was the only bit that hadn’t been replaced so I agreed to have the work done.

"He said he’d use treated wood and make sure it matched the rest of the fencing and that he’d take away the old fence.

“He was there working on it for a couple of days but never finished the job.

"The fence isn’t straight and part of the garden still needs to be weeded.

“I phoned him and he assured me he would come back and finish the job but he never did, he just kept giving me all sorts of excuses.

"I don’t know how people like him can sleep at night.”

Inverclyde Council is urging people to always get more than one quote and to make use of its trusted trader directory.

Councillor Michael McCormick said: “A 6ft by 6ft fence panel costs about £20 and one reputable contractor quoted us £150 for the Port Glasgow fencing job – around a tenth of what the victim paid.

“It’s easy to get taken in by a local phone number.

"With today’s technology you can divert a local number to anywhere in the world.

“The council runs the Trusted Trader scheme to help people choose reliable local traders.

"We publish a directory of businesses that have been checked by Trading Standards and it includes comments from previous customers who also rate the work they’ve had done.

“All traders display feedback from genuine customers broken down by: value for money; customer service or reliability; quality of service and the likelihood they would use the trader again or recommend the trader to someone else.

“Our advice is always use a trusted trader and when you’re getting any work done always get at least three written quotations.

"Ask people you know if they can recommend a trader but also ask if there’s anyone you should avoid.”