Memory foam mattresses are being sold by people in vans targeting pubs and car parks.

The man in the white van is back.

We have heard reports that memory foam mattresses are being sold by people in vans targeting pubs and car parks.

The usual story goes something like this: Man pulls up in supermarket carpark and approaches a member of the public and tells them that he works for a courier company and they have been overloaded with mattresses and he will sell you one for a great price like fifty to one hundred pounds, the story may vary from town to town but the promise of a memory foam mattress that would retail for one thousand pound seems to good to be true, unfortunately that is true.

We have taken many phone calls from people who have purchased a mattress in this way and asked us questions about the mattress trying to find out what they have bought.

The scam works on many levels because the scammer will have one genuine memory foam mattress unpacked in his van and he will show you this one.

All the other mattresses that he has are vacuum packed and rolled up.

The purchaser will then take the said vacuum packed mattress home thinking what a shrewd purchase this has been.

After unpacking the mattress and placing on the bed waiting for the mattress to return to shape, he notices that the mattress is very hard and smells like a Diesel factory.

These mattresses are made from standard reflex foam and are worth a couple of pounds.

This can lead to health problems as the mattress would have been made with chemicals that are banned in the UK.

Beware.