A bank worker has been honoured after stopping an elderly woman from being ripped off by rogue traders who drove her to a cashpoint to withdraw her savings.

Grandmother Maria Ranson from Bearsted was targeted on her doorstep by a man and a woman who attempted to pressurise her into having her driveway relaid in August.

When she told them she did not have any cash, they drove her to NatWest in Sutton Road, Maidstone.

Maria, who usually uses a wheelchair, was left to make her own way to the ATM to withdraw £550.

But it exceeded the maximum withdrawal amount and her card was swallowed.

Fortunately, customer service manager Rea Lynch spotted the 89-year-old and questioned her about the man she was with, asking if he was intimidating her into giving him money.

Now she's been awarded a certificate of appreciation signed by Kent County Council’s head of public protection Mike Overbeke for her quick thinking and intervention.

She said: “The customer was quite elderly and had a lot of difficulty walking, she had problems with the machine and I offered to assist.

“While I took the lady to the machine to help, I asked her why she needed the money, the lady explained it was for a driveway and ‘they gave me a lift to the bank to get the money’.

“This raised alarm bells and so I took the lady back inside the branch. Something didn’t ring true.”

Scared off, the rogue traders drove Maria home without taking any of her money.

Chris Dowse, 36, believes the only reason the couple didn’t take his grandmother’s money is because of the clerk’s intervention, coupled with the fear they had been caught on the bank’s CCTV.

He said: “Rea was the one who saw my mum was in distress and went over to her.

“She was scared. Anything could have happened, they could have left her by the side of the road and taken all her money.”