THE owner of a clothing repair business has warned people to be on the lookout for a conwoman who has been begging door to door.

Doreen Perkin, 62, who runs her business Stitched Up by Doreen, at 330, Chorley Old Road, had her suspicions raised after the woman came into her shop last Monday evening.

She said she had run out of fuel and had 75p in her pocket but asked to borrow £2 to get some from Morrison’s.

Mrs Perkin said: “I was working late into the evening when she came in asking for £2.

“I gave it to her on a condition of trust, that she would pay it back and she said that she would do after she had been paid at the end of the month.”

Curious to see what would happen, Mrs Perkin’s son Chris followed her from the shop and saw her getting into a car, in which an ‘African Caribbean’ man was sitting, and the pair drove off - but not into Morrison’s where she claimed she had wanted to get fuel.

Since then Mrs Perkin, who posted an image of the woman on Facebook from her CCTV, has heard from several businesses in Chorley Old Road where a woman fitting her description had visited on other occasions.

Peter Flitcroft, said on social media: “I got stung by her with the same excuse on Monday, February 13, as I was walking into Nick’s Restaurant(162 Chorley Old Road)”.

Penny Foden said: “She came into my sunbed shop last week with the same excuse. I just said no.”

Sandra Whittaker from Astley said: “A couple of months ago she knocked on our door asking for £15 because she had locked her keys in the house and needed to get a taxi to pick her kids up from school from the Bar Lane area.”

Mrs Perkin has also heard back from people who say they have been approached at supermarkets by a woman fitting the same description asking for money because she had run out of fuel.

Greater Manchester MP’s Inspector Wayne Redfern said: “Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources to dedicate to the theft of £2, but I do have staff checking the CCTV to see if there are multiple cases of this.

“Hopefully, we can track this woman down and tell her to stop doing it.”