WITH reference to your article headlined "Check ID of callers" (Worcester News, Wednesday, April 6) I work for a large company whereby my day-to-day activities involve visiting consumers in their own homes across three counties to access gas, water and electricity meters.

It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people, especially the vulnerable elderly, who are not aware of the fact that they can contact their individual utility provider and request that a password be placed on their account. This is a service that is free of charge and I believe foolproof. Legitimate callers like myself carry computers that are updated regularly with all of the relevant customer information including "presence of dogs" and "password requests".

Quite simply, if we were to knock on a door and the householder should request a password, we would know that password. If not, then we would expect to be refused access. I offer this advice to most of the people I visit. It's simple, it's free, but not very well publicised. In this day and age, people cannot be too careful. If a stranger knocks on your door, don't be afraid to ask "what's the password?" If that person is legitimate, they won't mind one bit. We can all wear uniforms and ID badges, but the password system is an excellent added security measure.

WAYNE MORRIS, Worcester.