For being terrified after visit from Nottingham Knockers?

I've had them at the door occasionally. Once bought a special tub of upvc cleaner from them. It was quite good.

I thought the scam was they're not all fresh out of prison and the goods they sell are overpriced.

Yes I had a guy come round who said he was deaf and dumb he was selling 'hand-drawn' pictures. I was taken in for a minute he was very convincing. I didn't buy anything and then thought it didn't add up when he left. I wondered if an elderly person had answered the door how they may find it unsettling and under pressure to buy something so I called the police. I had three follow up calls from them and they sent out cars to patrol so they are concerned about the issue.

we get them dropped off in a van to the rural villages where I live.i shouted to the last one who was trying to persuade an elderly woman to buy bits from him.She was grateful as he was quite aggressive-he went straight on his phone to get picked up by his boss-I shouted at him and said I knew what he was up to and I’d call the police if he didn’t get lost.was terrified afterwards 😂 and husband wasn’t thrilled when I told him but I was so angry at the time i didn’t think.Odd thing is they all have Liverpudlian accents and we are in Devon.

Many mumsnetters are. Never open your door, do not engage with any member of the public because they are all out to rape/kill/rob you.

Have never heard the term "Nottingham Knocker" but we have had these people round the door in the past too. We never ever buy anything door to door, so just say no thanks, close the door, job done. Nothing to be terrified about.

I had one knock the door, the day after I’d seen it on tv!. I just politely said no thank you. I was living on my own at the time with my baby so I was a bit nervous but nothing happened thankfully.

You have to get a balance, between being wary and not overthinking it. Not always easy.!

urso because a person is 77 they have no judgement and will always believe any scammer.So patronising and why the hell do people say 'oh bless' when they are talking about an older person.How patronising and ageist.And as for being terrifed by a nottingham knocker I am sorry but you have a low bar for terror.

People target elderly people maybe not someone who is 77 but yes it is a thing and no not ageist.

Probably about a decade ago or even longer we had a young man show up at the door with a bag, said he was an ex-prisoner trying to get back on his feet and would we be interested in buying a few things. We didn't really need anything but we bought about £20 worth probably because we felt sorry for him. He was perfectly pleasant and went on his way. Heard no more about it, certainly weren't broken into at any point later on.

A couple of years later had another similar one but said no thanks to him. He had a bit of an unpleasant attitude and stalked off grumbling. It was only much later I heard about this type of scam.

Edit: I don't think there's any reason to be 'terrified', honestly.

Are you suggesting Our Dear Robin Hood is out and about selling J cloths? 🤔

They're often in our village, sometimes 2 together.
My dog hears them talking and knocking on neighbours doors and barks furiously so they never come to my house.

an elderly lady across from me had a man push is way in past her and refused to leave until she gave him money. She was very badly shaken.

YABU to be "terrified", seems a massive overreaction!

The police disagree with you:
'The “sales pitches” can also be part of a wider operation to identify burglary targets.'
https://www.westmercia.police.uk/news/west-mercia/news/2022/october/beware-of-nottingham-knockers-selling-items-door-to-door

No one is going to make much money selling over priced dish cloths door to door so it's hardly surprising that there is likely to be more to it.

I don't know why people are being so bitchy to the OP, why not just tell her it's fine? People are always so desperate to feel superior on here.

Yes! It really gives you an insight into how people live. They're also not interested in examining it at all, not only replying to the meaner questioning posts as "judgemental" or "unkind".

We get them regularly and no burglaries-even after DH once bought a £20 duster from them 🤦‍♀️

I now see them as a bit of a joke: I had one a few years back who was trying to charm me, when my moggy came into view. He’s big, but he is quite clearly a cat. Nottingham Knocker: “oh he’s lovely. Is he a Border Collie”? (And have now outed myself as I couldn’t not share that with all those near and dear to me!!)

I didn't say it was offensive. I said I resented the phrase "Nottingham Knockers".

Imagine the grief you'd get if this was called
The Scouse Scam or the Dublin Doorstep.

This is making me laugh. My ex was a Nottingham knocker for a while (literally, from Nottingham and travelling to other towns selling cleaning products door to door). He and everyone else in the group with him were just hard up and trying to make a little cash, nothing else. He has never committed a crime of any kind.

If all someone did was knock on the door and ask if you want to buy something, and when you said no they went away, then all the rest of this hysteria is just ridiculous.

If I was thinking of burglarising someones house or scamming them out of money I wouldn't announce to them I was an ex. con.

We are v v lucky to live next door to as man who is 6'7" built like a castle and has anger issues.
His standard response when opening the door is to menacingly say "Fuck off" at whoever it is.
As a result no body in our street gets unsolicited callers anymore.

Yep, anyone who doesn’t immediately agree that it was an immensely traumatic event is labeled as a keyboard warrior, harsh or nasty!

The only way I can think of this as 'casing the joint' is, perhaps, and giving all meanings the loosest possible definition, checking which houses might have a dog.

Knocking on doors and seeing if someone answers might be a way to check if anyone was in, but opportunistic burglars are most likely to just try the door to see if it's locked, dash in, grab things and dash out. Knocking first to check if there's a dog that might raise an alarm would be sensible.

OP, people really don't need to knock at your door and try to sell you dishcloths to 'assess your house for burglaries'. 'Nottingham Knockers' make money by scamming you with shit goods at vast prices and a sob story, not by casing the joint.

If a would-be burglar wants to see if your house is easy to break into, they can see that simply by looking at your house. They don't need to knock at your door.

😂😂😂

It strikes me that the knockers must be on an increasingly sticky wicket. Many people don’t keep much, if any, cash in the house, so to survive are the knockers provided with very sophisticated card readers that manage to work perfectly every time no matter how poor the signal ? If so many people would be more worried that the card readers were being used to pinch their card details so would probably decide not to purchase if they didn’t have cash.

I predict that the knockers will fade out, like rag and bone men, knife grinders, onion sellers, the Kleeneezee man, the encyclopaedia salesman, and all the other itinerant sellers who used to enliven a bored housewife’s day.