Shoppers were today urged by trading standards experts to be careful about one-day sales which claim to offer luxury goods at bargain prices.

The warning comes after a sale at St Gabriel's Church in Pitsea. Bargain-hunters claimed that, despite an invitation to buy electrical goods at rock-bottom prices, they walked away with goods they could have bought for less at Pitsea or Basildon markets.

On Monday we reported how shopper Sharon Davies, 31, of The Walthams, Pitsea, handed over £60 for six electrical items.

She said she only received a compact phone set before the traders left in a van.

One woman in her 30s, who asked not to be named, parted with £145 to receive a set of saucepans, a massager, a broken Dirt-Devil vacuum cleaner and an answerphone.

She claims she could have bought the same items in a high street or market for much less.

Simon Lynch, of Essex Trading Standards, said: "These sale organisers are very clever people. They get people worked up into a purchasing frenzy and often book two or three venues so by the time we get there it's over."

Mr Lynch encouraged venue owners to think about who they hire their halls to.

The Rector of Pitsea with Nevendon, the Rev Esther McCafferty, said the firm had made a one-off hall booking at St Gabriels and was very sorry for the two women.

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