POLICE and Trading Standards officers have warned about unscrupulous builders after two Bromsgrove pensioners paid cash for building work left half-finished or not done at all.

In the first incident, an elderly woman in Stoke Heath was left with half-inch gaps in the gutters, unfinished barge boards and a telephone cable flapping in the wind at the front of the house.

She had paid more than £500 cash for the work only to be left with debris from the old guttering dumped in her drive and at the back of the house. When she rang the firm's mobile phone to complain, the manager swore at her.

In the second incident, an elderly man was approached by people claiming to be builders who said that he needed work doing.

He was persuaded to go to the building society for a substantial sum in cash, but no work was done. Both victims did not wish to be identified.

A spokeswoman for Worcestershire Trading Standards said people could protect themselves by seeking recommendations, using local builders and not paying by cash.

Sgt Jerry Reakes-Williams, of Bromsgrove Police, said: "If anyone has been a victim in this way or has been approached we would appeal to them to contact the police so that we can get as much information as possible."