Roof my elderly neighbour's house

Last week my 80 year old neighbour who lives in Crofton Park Road was approached by a building company who knocked on his door, they told him that his gutters needed replacing,  as we understand it he didn't agree to the works but he went out and when he returned the gutters had been removed.

The Builders had then told him that quite a lot of work was needed and once again without him agreeing to the works they erected some scaffolding and told him the roof needed replacing as a matter of urgency as it was leaking into his neighbours house (This wasn't the case) 

My neighbour sadly believed what they were telling him and I think he was slightly intimidated so they started removing the roof tiles as well as the render on the dwarf walls between the roofs.

On the first day of the works to the roof they demanded that he pay them a significant sum of money running into thousands of pounds which he felt he had no option but to do so. 

The next day they demanded a further even larger sum but when he went to the bank to withdraw the second amount the cashiers were suspicious and they contacted trading standards. Trading Standards told the builders to stop working immediately and they are currently trying to help find reputable contractors to replace the roof, however this will not be cheap.

My neighbour was left with all of his roof tiles on the pavement as we think the builders did not pay the skip company as they started filling the skip, then the driver came back  and told them to empty it and took away the empty skip.

It is almost certain that my neighbour didn't need a new roof in the first place but maybe needed some repairs to the guttering and some of the flashings to the roof but has currently been left with jet felt on the roof, having paid an excessive amount for the work carried out to date.

To make matters worse Lewisham Council have advised that the scaffolding is not safe and we don't even know who put it up as there is no board.

It has been an absolute nightmare as my neighbour is 80 years old and now has no roof, luckily some of our neighbours have paid for a skip to remove the tiles and we are now looking to help him replace his roof.

As my neighbour has unfortunately already lost a lot of money we are trying to reach out to the local community to help with the costs

We would also be grateful if any local roofers would be happy to offer their skills/time to help, one of my neighbours is a competent builder but not a roofer, my husband is also planning to help although he is not skilled in this area.

Please do be careful and make sure you thoroughly research any potential firms you plan to have any work with and especially be wary of people who knock on your door saying that you need work doing