POLICE are warning Andover residents not to buy products on the doorstep following reports of 'Nottingham Knockers' operating in the area.

Officers have confirmed on social media that they have received a number of calls regarding doorstep traders selling tea towels and domestic products.

Dubbed 'Nottingham Knockers', they may claim to be ex-convicts attempting to mend their ways but they will not be under any recognised rehabilitation scheme.

They may also show a card purporting to be a permit under a rehabilitation programme but the Probation Service does not run such schemes.

The 'traders' will be supplied with a bag of household products e.g. tea towels, dusters, gardening gloves, for which they are charged a minimal amount by their 'employer'- originally a man from Nottingham, hence the name.

They can keep whatever they make above the amount paid.

Often known criminals, they will be deposited in a transit van and told to work a certain list of streets then they will be picked up and taken to another location.

The products - which are usually poor quality - will come to the price of a note and when the householder hand the cash over they will assess the address.

If it is crumpled they accept it and move on but if it is a new note they are likely to engage the resident in further conversation to glean information and when they leave they will smell the note to assess whether there is more in the property.

If it smells slightly musty it is an indication of more.

A list of addresses will be given to the 'employer' which can then be sold in prisons and pubs and passed onto rogue traders.

Andover Police are warning people not to buy anything on the doorstep.

If you think 'Nottingham Knockers' are operating where you live, contact police on 101.