With Halloween approaching Safer Reading Partnership has released advice for householders to keep them safe come the witching hour.

• If a person calls at your door and asks 'trick or treat', why not ask them for a treat?
• If you are approached by a person with a thick east European accent he is not one of the undead trying to suck your blood. He is in fact one of our Polish electoral roll auditors trying to trick you into paying more council tax. It might however be worth checking if he is wearing a Tory rosette, in which case he is a vampire trying to suck your blood.
• With the full moon occuring five days before Halloween, it will be relatively safe come the 31^st to open the door if Jon Hartley calls claiming to be 'canvassing'. He used to be a werewolf, but he's all right for nowooooooo!
• If you spot a person lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce on the unsuspecting, don't call the police, he is probably one of our late night traffic wardens.
• It's a rule of thumb that if a person is old enough to go out trick or treating on their own, they are too old to be trick or treating. So if you do spot a Lib Dem on your doorstep tell them to come back later with their Mummy (or failing that that old fossil Sir Menzies wrapped in bandages).
• If trying to ward of vampires, please make sure you obtain wooden stakes from sustainable resources, like the trees in Eldon Square. On the other hand, if you'd like to keep the Greens away from your door, use a fresh steak.
• If someone calls at your door carrying a bright orange pumpkin, please don't be rude to Jo Lovelock.