‘Chuggers’ face £500 fine for annoying shoppers

Paid street fundraisers, or ‘Chuggers’ as they are commonly known, will face court action and fines of up to £500 if they are caught hassling members of the public in Wolverhampton city centre, the city’s council has warned.
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Byelaws were introduced by Wolverhampton City Council in February last year which forbids ‘charity muggers’ from operating in the city’s centre, but now fundraising companies have been warned that if they contravene them they risk a fine of up to £500 for each occasion.

Wolverhampton City Council Leader Councillor Roger Lawrence said: “We’re acting on evidence that, if unchecked, nuisance chuggers could deter visitors to the city centre. I’m determined this will not be the case, especially in the run up to Christmas.”

The move has proved a popular one with Wolverhampton residents. A spokesman for the council told Yahoo! News today that they were “swamped by complaints on Twitter” when they raised the issue of chuggers.

Other councils have also started to take action, many through the Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA) – a charity-led organisation which acts as a bridge between councils and charities practicing face-to-face fundraising.

In Chorley, Lancashire, chugging has been restricted to two days a week, while in Edinburgh they are banned entirely from the popular Prince Street.

In a crackdown on chugging in Manchester, the number of fundraisers has been limited to five in each of the four dedicated zones in the city centre on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 9am and 6pm.

Speaking about whether Manchester would ever consider Wolverhampton’s fining solution, a spokeswoman from Manchester City Council said that so far the measures introduced in February have been working and that the streets are being regulated a lot better. However, she said that it’s still early days and the situation would need a proper review.

Leeds City Council was one of the earlier councils to sign a formal agreement with the PFRA regulating chugging in 2008 but similarly added that it hasn’t been a particular problem in the city since.

The PFRA, which has expressed disappointment at Wolverhampton City Council’s decision, recently issued new rules charity workers must abide by. They state that fundraisers must:

•    not stand within three metres of a cashpoint
•    not imply that a donor can sign up ‘without commitment’
•    not sign up anyone unable to give informed consent through illness, disability, or drink or drugs.
•    take no more than a maximum of three steps towards a member of the public to confirm their attention and continue with an attempt at an engagement, and no more than three steps backwards where eye-contact has been made but the member of the public has not yet come to a halt, and no more than three steps alongside a member of the public where contact has been made and a negotiation to stop has been initiated.
•    not place themselves directly in the path of a member of the public in such a way that they or any casual observer may reasonably construe ‘obstruction’.

Anyone can report any fundraisers who appear to be breaking the rules by emailing streetfundraising@cityco.com.