A regional trading standards team is being set up in the East of England to try and crack down on rogue traders.

A regional trading standards team is being set up in the East of England to try and crack down on rogue traders.

Trading standards officers from Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridge-shire will join forces with those of 58 other authorities across the east and south-east of England to create a 'super-regional' taskforce.

The Scambuster team, which will be up and running by the autumn, will share information as well as working closely with other enforcement bodies, including the police.

The four main aims of the force will be to:

Target major scams within the region, especially protecting elderly people in their own homes.

Share best practice on dealing with scams between regions and co-ordinate intelligence gathering.

Support and strengthen the ability of individual authorities to deal with scams in their areas.

Work in effective partnership with other agencies, especially the police forces and specialist units.

Last night trading standards officers across the region welcomed the move.

Steve Greenfield, trading stand-ards officer for Suffolk, said: “The new super-regional team will be effective in tracking the rogues who think they can escape the law by moving from place to place.”

A spokesman for Cambridge-shire County Council added: “We are 100pc behind this taskforce, we think it is a brilliant idea. We know from previous convictions we have been involved in that rogue traders do cross county borders and we want to stop them from coming to this region.”