ELDERLY people are being warned to be on their guard after a pensioner was tricked out of £500. He answered his door to a man who said he was fitting carpet nearby and had some left over.

The 68-year-old, of Dumpton Park Drive, Ramsgate, agreed to buy some and a man in his sixties arrived with samples. The householder chose a design and paid £500 when the two men, joined by a third, returned with two rolls of carpet.

The men said they would go and get some tools - and have not been seen since. A police spokeswoman said: “This man is now left with two rolls of carpet he cannot use. He doesn’t even know if they are fit for use, or will fit in his room."

The three men had a white transit van when they called last Friday morning. It is not known if they were genuine carpet fitters or if the carpet was stolen.

One is in his forties, stocky and was wearing a grey sweatshirt and shorts; the one in his sixties has short grey hair, and the third, aged about 40, had a London accent. Anyone with information is asked to contact Thanet police on 231055.