Six Porkies

Mar 30 2008

SALESMAN Michael Hutchins made a string of dodgy claims during his hour-long sales pitch.

Today the Sunday Mail can expose at least six of his claims as downright lies. Here are the porkies which nailed Hutchins as he tried to flog the overpriced alarms.

PORKY NUMBER 1

Hutchins: "Crime in your area has rocketed by 27 per cent in the last year because of Eastern Europeans."

LIE

Tayside Police said: "There are no areas in our jurisdiction which have a 27 per cent increase in crime. Angus has one of the lowest crime rates in the country."

PORKY NUMBER 2

Hutchins: "Double-glazing is the worst of the lot. They can lift them out with an old toilet plunger."

LIE

Tayside Police said: "It's scaremongering. With most double-glazed windows, the glass can only be removed from the inside."

PORKY NUMBER 3

Hutchins: "Our staff are all NHS 24 trained...our panic button goes straight through to the NHS."

LIE

NHS 24 said: "We have no knowledge of or dealings with this firm."

PORKY NUMBER 4

Hutchins: "The council make you wait. They usually only have one person on duty."

LIE

Angus Council said: "We respond to alarm calls within five minutes. There are three community alarm response teams based across the Angus area."

PORKY NUMBER 5

Hutchins: "If it's just an alarm going off, the police won't come."

LIE

Tayside Police said: "That is untrue. If an alarm is registered with us and it goes off, we do attend."

PORKY NUMBER 6

Hutchins: "Angus Council used to do free community alarms.Nowthey do means testing."

LIE

Angus Council said: "We don't carry out means testing for community alarms. They are provided free if the applicant meets our criteria."