Buskers, Chuggers, Begging, Homeless People (etc) on the streets of Newcastle and the North East

Simply listening to music through headphones appears to be the best deterrent. They appear to instinctively understand that you're not to be bothered. I walked through a field of particularly aggressive and confident chuggers in Leeds today without being stopped - the type that actually run at you from a distance.

If you come across a chugger the best way to get rid of them is by saying you already donate to "insert charity name". I often find it's a good way to start up a conversation if the chugger is a pretty girl. I support this charity because.........., why do you do it?................

Oh so it's pretty much a job while your at uni, what do you do at uni?............Thats interesting thats something I'm interested in myself. By the way my name is Chris, can this might seem word but can I have your number.


Unbelievable the amount of times it works.



Anyway, if your eat deep fried pie sandwiches then no wonder he was fat, of course cutting them out of his diet would end up him losing weight.
It's a sad day that the Chronicle actually thinks of this as first page news, it's a newspaper not a womans chat magazine.

bigchrisfgb said:

If you come across a chugger the best way to get rid of them is by saying you already donate to "insert charity name". I often find it's a good way to start up a conversation if the chugger is a pretty girl. I support this charity because.........., why do you do it?................

Oh so it's pretty much a job while your at uni, what do you do at uni?............Thats interesting thats something I'm interested in myself. By the way my name is Chris, can this might seem word but can I have your number.

Unbelievable the amount of times it works.

Anyway, if your eat deep fried pie sandwiches then no wonder he was fat, of course cutting them out of his diet would end up him losing weight.
It's a sad day that the Chronicle actually thinks of this as first page news, it's a newspaper not a womans chat magazine.

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Nice Chris! The problem is that if you just want to get on with your business in town, and not hang around chatting it's very hard to get rid of them. I've tried explaining how my wife and I give what we can by DD to a range of charities every month and that I won't be looking to give any more, but they just chirping up with "but let me explain what we're doing", or "we're just asking you to send a text message". The only way to just pass them by is to be rude to them, which makes me feel very uncomfortable

Newcastle City Centre 'charity muggers' face crackdown
by Dan Warburton, The Journal, January 21st 2012


CITY COUNCIL chiefs are set to crack down on charity street collectors who pester shoppers. A loophole in regulations means the so-called “charity muggers” or “chuggers” can collect personal details and hound people for donations without a permit, but Newcastle City Council wants to introduce a bylaw to “minimise nuisance and protect the public from being intimidated and pressurised” into donating.

They have grown tired of seeing shoppers harassed for money, which often goes to agencies which collect signatures rather than charities, a report claims. A paper compiled by the council details how the chuggers operate.

For every signature, charities pay up to £100 to agencies who send a fleet of collectors on to Newcastle’s Northumberland Street and near Grey’s Monument. It’s claimed nationally 750,000 people provide an annual contribution of just £90 each.

Fears have also been raised that charity workers could drive shoppers out of the City Centre to private shopping complexes where it is illegal for chuggers to operate. The proposed bylaw will clamp down on those who collect contact information with a view to contacting them for cash at a later date, or “prospecting”.


Read More - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-...-face-crackdown-61634-30168672/#ixzz1k5PV33u4

Newcastle Historian said:

Newcastle City Centre 'charity muggers' face crackdown
by Dan Warburton, The Journal, January 21st 2012


CITY COUNCIL chiefs are set to crack down on charity street collectors who pester shoppers. A loophole in regulations means the so-called “charity muggers” or “chuggers” can collect personal details and hound people for donations without a permit, but Newcastle City Council wants to introduce a bylaw to “minimise nuisance and protect the public from being intimidated and pressurised” into donating.

They have grown tired of seeing shoppers harassed for money, which often goes to agencies which collect signatures rather than charities, a report claims. A paper compiled by the council details how the chuggers operate.

For every signature, charities pay up to £100 to agencies who send a fleet of collectors on to Newcastle’s Northumberland Street and near Grey’s Monument. It’s claimed nationally 750,000 people provide an annual contribution of just £90 each.

Fears have also been raised that charity workers could drive shoppers out of the City Centre to private shopping complexes where it is illegal for chuggers to operate. The proposed bylaw will clamp down on those who collect contact information with a view to contacting them for cash at a later date, or “prospecting”.


Read More - http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-...-face-crackdown-61634-30168672/#ixzz1k5PV33u4

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About time - these idiots ruin my visits to Northumberland Street. This week it's "Save the snow lepord" - several unwashed students wearing all white approaching you in excited way "can you spare a minute"

Seamaster said:

The save-the-f***ing-tiger chuggers are beyond a joke today. Too many of them, and too aggressive. I'm seriously considering abandoning Northumberland Street as a route through town altogether. NCC needs to get a grip, preferably around their necks.

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Agreed!
https://twitter.com/soult/status/219747954095947777

newcastlepubs said:

I've stopped being nice:

• I only give to Amnesty - true and you often get a 'good on you'
• I don't give a s*it about the tiger. I have a polar bear rug in my living room [also true, and a zebra rug, and few other bit s and pieces]
• F#ck off - tends to be the most effective

I wondered, but can t see where the entrance would be on those renderings.

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Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old man but has anyone else noted that these chuggers are no longer students trying to make extra money - now we seem to have a dedicated band of locals who make their living in hounding folk?

Steve Ellwood said:

Perhaps I'm just a grumpy old man but has anyone else noted that these chuggers are no longer students trying to make extra money - now we seem to have a dedicated band of locals who make their living in hounding folk?

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There seem to be two types. The ones I object to are the ones where clearly there is no interest and yet they effectively walk backwards in front of pedestrians harassing them. Also these companies usually only give a small % of 'takings' to the charities.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/9367193/Charities-ditch-street-chuggers-after-Sunday-Telegraph-investigation.html

merleb said:

And I'm gonna just impact on their surface.

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I know we're you's are all coming from, as I avoid them and hate it when they approach me!

However, I have massive respect for these people actuly doing a job! I'm sure they could quite easily just lay around and and sponge of us the tax payer, but there not they are out there actully earning a living and paying taxes!

Also we are in the 21st century, so please try and show these people a little respect and not tell them to "F**k off" or "Impact on their surfaces", because I know first hand how it makes you feel like utter crap when people from the general public feel they have a god given right to be rude to you! Thankfully I no longer work with the general public, and I have the up most respect for people that do,

These are just my views I know everyone has there own, but just try and picture your self in their position! Would you like it?

swalli27 said:

I know we're you's are all coming from, as I avoid them and hate it when they approach me!

However, I have massive respect for these people actuly doing a job! I'm sure they could quite easily just lay around and and sponge of us the tax payer, but there not they are out there actully earning a living and paying taxes!

Also we are in the 21st century, so please try and show these people a little respect and not tell them to "F**k off" or "Impact on their surfaces", because I know first hand how it makes you feel like utter crap when people from the general public feel they have a god given right to be rude to you! Thankfully I no longer work with the general public, and I have the up most respect for people that do,

These are just my views I know everyone has there own, but just try and picture your self in their position! Would you like it?

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I think that the problem that most have is not with a single 'scuse me, rather it's with people walking backwards blocking your way, or being accosted by a series of people from the same outfit.

I ve tried being polite, "not interested" but with someone bobbing up and down in your face then f#ck off seems to be the only thing that works. It probably sounds harsh but a single 'excuse me' gets a polite reply, but rude behaviour from the chuggers pretty much guarantees a rude response from me.

As an aside I d be interested in any research on their demographic [and/or how they re hired]. It strikes me that they come from an almost exclusively middle class HE [or perhaps just post HE] group. Putting this in another way I've not seen any who are middle aged or 'broad geordie'.

newcastlepubs said:

I don t think a single person saying 'scuse me matters.

I think the point is that some will literally walk backwards bobbing in front of you. In other cases you're almost running the gauntlet from chugger to chugger.

There's a point where it's really intrusive.

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I agree with you newcastlepubs. My girlfriend is far too polite "Oh, sorry I'm a bit busy, gotta go!" whereas I usually tell her "I'll deal with this" as one of the red/blue coated over enthusiastic never-had-a-real-job person approaches :banana:

swalli27 said:

However, I have massive respect for these people actuly doing a job! I'm sure they could quite easily just lay around and and sponge of us the tax payer, but there not they are out there actully earning a living and paying taxes!

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You may find they are purely commission based and therefore will work 50 hours for £100 a week, and will probably get a shed load of what is known as "Working tax credits"

I do appreciate your view though

They get like £7 an hour. One of my friends does it.

I was on a train from Sunderland to London a while back, and opposite me were two blokes discussing it. They worked for a business that arranged/led them, and they were talking about how many people they need to sign up and stuff. At first it sounded like they were talking about a real credible business.

The only way I could "help" the charity chuggers and sales people is to go and get a "masters" ticket in N.L.P. or better still a viable ticket in medical hypnotise so I could "break" the sales patter. I think it would be a worth while enterprise like "saving" fallen women.
Thats what I would do, that and I would start up a tattoo removal charity.

Thing is, if these clowns rattled a tin at me, they'd almost certainly get some of my hard-earned — I'm a soft touch for bona-fide charities and rarely walk past collectors rattling for the Royal British Legion, Marie Curie, etc. But the chugscum want you to hand over your bank account details, and that's never going to happen. As I've said before, there's something vaguely sinister about these attractive, well-scrubbed youths bounding up to you full of faux bonhomie. I wouldn't trust any of them as far as I could cheerfully kick them.

Seamaster said:

Thing is, if these clowns rattled a tin at me, they'd almost certainly get some of my hard-earned — I'm a soft touch for bona-fide charities and rarely walk past collectors rattling for the Royal British Legion, Marie Curie, etc. But the chugscum want you to hand over your bank account details, and that's never going to happen. As I've said before, there's something vaguely sinister about these attractive, well-scrubbed youths bounding up to you full of faux bonhomie. I wouldn't trust any of them as far as I could cheerfully kick them.

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Joking aside..


When I was a student many moons ago and living in Jesmond, a man claiming to be collecting for a Charity appeared at my door. Complete with ID badge, high vis jacket and a clipboard he looked the part.

He attempted to start telling me what they do - saving children somewhere or other and the end game was for me to hand over my bank details to setup a direct debit for something in the region of £5 a month.

I politely asked him to provide me with some literature so I could at least sit down and make a decision in my own time. He did not have any. My next question was to ask whether they had a website I could at least visit - he said "Oh, if you look us up on google we're on there" but then couldn't supply me with a company name.

He made a hasty exit after that.

The thing is - you can't even tell if the people on Northumberland street are genuine. They will all work for different charities/organisations, the police won't go round checking their ID against any kind of national database of "chuggers" as there isn't one.

I would suggest to anyone, don't give any details to anyone who claims to be from any company - they should hand out information for you to contact THEM on a publicised phone number or address.

There are too many scams - old ladies being conned out of their savings as was featuresd on "Panorama" just the other day by cold callers. Any responsible charity will use responsible means to get money and not promote hard harassment. If they use these methods, then they don't deserve my money - there will be plenty more charities doing a similar thing in the correct way.

I sometimes feel for the kids on the street who are doing the jobs - but I don't owe them a living by way of commission.