YEADON journalist Barrie Pennett is warning people to be on the lookout for a con trick involving a Dutch firm and a first aid kit.

Barrie received a parcel through the post containing the kit and a letter thanking him for supporting a charity. There was also a Giro payslip stating that £23 was to be paid by February 7 - even though the parcel did not arrive at his home in Victoria Close, until February 9.

Barrie, a reporter with the Wharfedale Observer, said he was at first puzzled when he received the parcel because he had not ordered a first aid kit or offered to support a particular charity.

"The worrying thing is that a Dutch firm managed to obtain my name and address," he said. "Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the Dutch firm or the charity because I was so angry that I returned the parcel using the addressed free envelope which had been supplied.

"I also wrote a note pointing out that I had not been in contact with them and did not want to be. I told them that any parcels which were sent to me would not be returned and would be put in the waste bin."

Barrie said that the contents, which included a bandage, bits of gauze, a plastic survival bag and other small bits and pieces, were not worth £23.

"In fact I would not have paid £1 for them. The point is that any unsuspecting elderly person might easily be taken in and cough up the cash," he added.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.