Police today praised a pair of defiant pensioners who slammed the door in the face of suspicious callers.

Detectives said the Colchester women's no-nonsense stance proved that the elderly were picking up on the force's no-ID no-entry message - promoted through the Evening Gazette's If In Doubt Keep 'Em Out campaign.

The first to say no to strangers was a 77-year-old who answered the door to two men with Irish accents in Oaklands Avenue, Stanway at about 6.50pm on Monday.

At about the same time, a man knocked on an 88-year-old woman's door in Holman Crescent, Prettygate. She refused to let him in, even when he claimed there had been an explosion a few doors down and he needed to turn off the gas.