Chuggers to be controlled

A REVIEW, commissioned by the Government, will recommend major changes to the way charities are run, and call for more powers to control face-to-face fund-raisers, known as chuggers.

Charities, including the Canal & River Trust (CART) of course, face major changes to how they raise funds after it was learned that streets are 'becoming suffocated with chuggers'.

Payments

The review is also looking into the way charities spend their money, particularly payments to people running the charities.

It will recommend charities introduce a traffic lights system—showing how they spend their money, while codes of conduct should be properly enforced against charities wasting money.

The publication includes 113 recommendations for change. The author of the Report, Lord Hodgson, stated  some streets are 'becoming suffocated with chuggers', and there needed to be greater control over how they operate.  Readers may recollect that our Allan Richards reported in narrowboatworld how chuggers operating on behalf of CART were pestering people at Brayford Pool in Lincoln recently.

Lord Hodgson explained:

"It is perfectly clear that chugging has caused difficulties in the high street. It is not just a problem for the public who run the gauntlet but also for shopkeepers because when you have chuggers outside your shop, the public just cross the road."

Chugger persisted

A Sky News report revealed that its undercover reporter told a chugger six times he did not have much money and that he would like to 'think about it', but the chugger persisted, asking 'what is there to think about', with the chugger persisting, the reporter told, for eight minutes.

Amongst the people stopped in Lincoln were three boaters, who all took exception to the chuggers, as all had already given in the form of boat licences and mooring fees, one of over £4,000.

Lord Hodgson's report proposes various recommendations to both control chuggers, how the money obtained is spent and whether the charity is a member of the Fundraising Standards Board, which enforces a code of conduct.