POLICE are investigating after a bogus council worker visited a house.

The man called at a house in Monkmoor Court, Oswestry and claimed to be doing a housing survey for Telford and Wrekin Council.

A West Mercia Police spokesman said: "He took photos outside and inside the property and asked if he could check the door key code. This was refused. The resident contacted the Telford & Wrekin Council who replied that no survey was taking place. The police were contacted."

The man was described as white, around 30 years old, with a plump face, dark hair, black rimmed glasses and a brief case and ladder.

Anyone with information on the incident - which happened on July 30 - can contact West Mercia Police on 101, and quote incident reference 0471s 300718.

Police are also investigating a number of other offences in the area:

- AN OPTICIANS shop on Willow Street, Oswestry was broken into between 5pm on July 28 and 9am on July 30.

A police spokesman said that the break-in was possibly an attempt to try to reach a neighbouring premises. Items were thrown around but no thefts were reported (Incident reference: 0139s 300718).

- A BOGUS gardener demanding payment from a resident in Meadow Close, Oswestry was reported to police on July 18.

The male is described as white, around 5ft 4 inches tall, with short brown hair, aged in his late teens, wearing a yellow short sleeved t-shirt and blue/navy coloured jeans.

He is said to have walked into to the property uninvited via a front door that had been left open. When the male has then been challenged by a neighbour as to what he was doing has left the scene in a white van with a ladder on the top (Incident reference: 0249S 180718).

- A STORAGE unit at the Bank Top Industrial Estate, St Martins, was broken into some time between 5.15pm on Thursday, July 26 and 7.30am the next day. A generator, power drills, grinders and a saw were among items stolen (Incident reference: 0142s 270718).