HOME owners are being warned to steer clear of cold callers after a firm allegedly offered to paint people's houses at inflated costs.

Reports of people knocking on doors in East Lothian in recent weeks offering to carry out external work have sparked concern.

East Lothian Council's trading standards officers said the painters had claimed they were in the area carrying out work for the local authority before offering the work.

However, the said the company involved was not employed to do any work by the council.

Principal Trading Standards Officer Derek Gray said people should not give work to cold callers.

He said : “The prices they are charging seem very high.

“If someone cold calls, you know nothing about them, whether they are legitimate or if their prices are reasonable or not.

"In general, we would always advise against employing someone who randomly calls at your door. We’re aware that many people prefer to use local traders too, and just because someone knocks at your door, or has a local telephone number, it doesn’t mean they’re local.”

East Lothian Council runs a Trusted Trader scheme which can be checked on their website.

Anyone concerned about a cold caller can report them to Trading Standards on 01620 827827.