A MAN who was bullied out of £200 by rogue workmen has labelled them "scumbags".

Dr Fred Wright was manhandled and intimidated by four men who surfaced his drive, despite him telling them he did not want any work done.

The gang - believed to be 'travellers' - had been working on a drive near Dr Wright's home in Cassington Road, Eynsham, when he asked them for a quote on tidying his drive.

The grandfather told them the price was too high, but the gang said they would return to discuss the work later.

When they did return to his home, Dr Wright told them he did not want any work done, before leaving to drop his disabled wife off at a class.

Dr Wright said: "I told them I didn't want it and they weren't to go in my garden or anything.

"I left and was back 25 minutes later, and without permission they had sprayed tarring lotion over quite a bit of the bottom part of my drive.

"I couldn't believe it. I told them they had no right to do it and they were trespassing.

"Then they wanted money. They demanded £1,400 for 25 minutes work, and then they dropped it to £600, and I said they weren't getting anything.

"One of them grabbed me by the arm with his dirty hands covered in tar. We were arguing for quite a while.

"Having been attacked by that man I didn't know whether to call the police or give them something to go away.

"I gave them £200 to get shot of them. They were demanding more money and wanted me to go to the bank.

"I got into my car up the road and one of them tried to get in to take me to the bank.

"I had my foot on the accelerator and he was hanging on, but he did not hang on for very long."

Dr Wright added: "They are scumbags. They are trying to get elderly people and take them for a ride."

He called the police who have passed the matter on to Oxfordshire County Council trading standards. No one has been arrested.

Trading standards manager Richard Webb said: "This was a horrible experience that Dr Wright has had to go through. They simply used work as an excuse to extort money from him.

"Quite often rogue traders will work with permission, but will escalate the cost or do unnecessary work.

"It is unfortunately fairly common that people who do work without permission resort to bullying and intimidation to obtain payment."