TRADING Standards bosses have warned householders to be on their guard after reports of potentially-bogus charity clothes collections.

Leaflets have been posted through doors telling people to put out unwanted clothing or other items on a particular day.

Council officials say while some are genuine door-to-door collections for charity, some commercial organisations are also using techniques like this to collect goods that are then purely sold for a profit.

They say if the leaflet says money is being donated from the profits, the amount any charity gets can be very small.

Chris Allen, Head of environmental health and trading standards at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “A good way to spot which are the real charities is to read the leaflet posted through the door properly.

“Make sure that the organisation’s full details are on the leaflet and look out for the registered charity number which should be printed on it.

“All collectors should be carrying ID.”