When you are out shopping in commercial properties with friends and family, the last thing you want is to be stopped by a person holding a clipboard asking for money. No, we are not talking about beggars, but ‘chuggers’ – charity muggers, who are paid to walk up and down high streets, extraditing money from shoppers, with little of it ending up with the charity.
Speaking about chuggers, Peter Quinn, Chairman of Charity Aid, a volunteer group based in Burnley, Lancashire, stated: “A lot of people don’t realise that a lot of the money goes to the chuggers and the company they work for, not the charity itself.
“Money is being siphoned off which is intended for good causes. I think the charities feel they are competing for a street presence, but I don’t believe chuggers do any good for charities.”
However, a council in Burnley has taken drastic action to keep chuggers off the streets. After receiving numerous complaints from commercial property workers and shoppers, Burnley Council decided to ban chuggers from their high street for five out of seven days.
Defending the council’s decision, Councillor Charlie Briggs said: “Our first concern has been for shoppers and others using the town centre.
“The council has proactively tackled this issue and come to this new agreement which will go a long way to deal with those issues. We’ve tried to find a balance between allowing charities to raise cash for worthy causes while at the same time preventing collectors being seen as a nuisance.”
The agreement by Burnley Council was made with the Public Fundraising Association (PFRA), which has already helped 41 other councils to tackle the chugger problem. As well as only being allowed on the high street for two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday), charities will only be allowed to have two collectors working in one area and they also must wear formal ID badges.
Speaking of the agreement, Dr Toby Ganley, Head of Policy at PFRA, said: “Charities rely on the voluntary support of the public to be able to provide services for their beneficiaries. But to secure this support, charities need to be able to ask for the public for donations.
“This agreement with Burnley balances the duty of charities, on behalf of their beneficiaries, to ask people for their support, with the rights of the public not to be put under undue pressure to give.”
Do you get stopped by chuggers when you are shopping in commercial properties in your town centre? Do you think people with clipboards are putting people off shopping on the high street?
