The Isle of Man Constabulary is advising residents to be wary of cold callers after reports of people offering to do odd jobs in Onchan.

Direct cold calling is illegal on the island.

One request was offering trees to a property owner without a garden!

A statement from Police said: ‘Obviously this type of report comes across as suspicious, therefore we are asking the public to be vigilant in looking after their homes and property and also to keep an eye on any neighbours that could possibly be vulnerable to any such approaches.’

It added that the advice regarding ‘cold calling’ is that a leaflet or information/price list posted through your door is fine, however nobody is allowed to personally solicit work by knocking on your door or talking to you at your address. The onus for making contact with any workers is always with the home owner, not the other way around.

The Police say that should residents have contact with anything stated above to contact the Office of Fair Trading on 686500 or the police should the circumstances requite it.