Recently the conman called on one of the centre's patients, who lives in Heysham, and tried to charge her £25 to mend her wheelchair. The manager of the centre Tony Donbavand said: "This is very worrying and we are currently conducting a full investigation and would be pleased to hear about any other similar incidents that may have occurred.

"In the meantime we would ask our patients to be extra vigilant when answering the door to callers.

"The repair contractor for the Morecambe area is Lakesway Home Services.

All our repairs are made free of charge and our repair contractors staff will be wearing identification badges with their photograph on. Very few visits are made unannounced."

The con man was described as having dark hair, a slight speech impediment and was thought to be deaf.

Sgt Dave Wadeson of Lancaster Crime Prevention squad, said: "Our advice to anyone and especially the elderly and the disabled is not to let anyone into your house without official identification and not to let them try and sell you anything."

If patients are in any doubt about the authenticity of a repairer they should telephone Lakesway on 847722 or the centre on (01772) 716921.

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