Alan Campbell, MP for Tynemouth, recently met up with former Strictly Come Dancing Head Judge, Len Goodman, 73, to talk about a campaign he is fronting for Santander to address the issue of scams targeted at the over 60s.

The initiative was launched by the bank in March and since then around 800 classes have been held at branches and other local community centres across the UK, taking around 12,000 people through a syllabus of how to avoid online, impersonation, cashpoint and card cons.

The Scam Avoidance School was developed following research by Age UK highlighting how older people are one of the most at-risk groups for being scammed – upwards of five million over 65s have been targeted by scammers.

Alan Campbell MP said “Scamming is a really serious issue and this initiative will certainly help to raise awareness and help people to recognise scams.  If any local group is interested in hosting a scam school please contact my office who will be happy to help.”