A PENSIONER said he was sickened after receiving a hoax phone call telling him a family member had been seriously injured.

Alan Goodall, who lives in sheltered accommodation, described the incident as a "wicked scam".

The retired entertainer was told a member of his family had been injured in a terrible road accident. He said the caller would not give him a name.

Mr Goodall, 85, said the more they questioned him for personal details the more suspicious he got and then the line went dead, but when he tried returning the call it would not connect.

He said: "It knocks you sick for a few seconds, and you have to gather your thoughts together, and afterwards you think I should have done this and that'.

"If someone is seriously injured you want to know if they are your son or daughter, and then I thought what an idiot', it would have been the police who would have contacted me."

Mr Goodall, of Guithavon Street, Witham, who reported the incident to police, added: "I assure you, a few elderly people may fall for this scam."

Sgt Peter Page, of Braintree police, said there were unscrupulous people out there who would use all kinds of methods to get information out of people.