A TRAVELLING odd job man badgered an elderly widow into agreeing to pay £700 for roofing work worth a fraction of the price, a court heard.

Harrogate magistrates heard how Jacob Connors pressurised the 84-year-old after knocking at her door to ask if she wanted her roof "doing".

Derek Smith, prosecuting for North Yorkshire Trading Standards. said the pensioner knew the roof and guttering required some work, but rejected Connors' overtures telling him her son looked after such jobs.

But Connors, of Roch Vale Park, Rochdale, Lancashire, persisted and said he could do the work for £700.

Trading standards officers, backed by police, confronted Connors on site after being alerted by the woman's daughter. He agreed to accept £150 for the job.

Mr Smith said "cooling off" legislation had been drafted so householders had a chance to pull out of contracts.

When Connors pleaded guilty to not allowing the woman a seven-day cooling off period, his solicitor, Helen Holmes, said he had travelled the country all his working life picking up work.

''He was knocking on doors and seeing what work he could get. He can neither read nor write, and knows nothing about regulations."

At the time of the visit, in August, he had only been doing roofing work for a couple of months and had now stopped, she added.

Fining Connors £1,000, with £250 costs, court chairman Gordon Charlton told him: ''The actions you took were totally unacceptable. As a trader, your responsibility is to treat clients fairly, justly and within the law, in particular those who are elderly and vulnerable. You chose not to do so."