Chuggers Curtailed!

25th April 2012

WV One welcomes the new agreement in place that will limit the number of direct debit charity collectors, often referred to as 'chuggers' in Wolverhampton City Centre.

From May, collectors can only operate in Dudley Street on Monday and Tuesday and in Victoria Street on Wednesday, the number of collectors will also be limited and there is a Code of Practice giving guidelines about the way in which people should be approached. 

The voluntary agreement is between Wolverhampton City Council and the Public Fund Raising Association which represents many charities, some using third party organisations with paid staff to undertake their collections. This agreement had to be put in place because of a grey area that allows this type of mass onslaught by often over zealous collectors without the normal local authority permit because bank details are being collected not cash.

WV One has been working with the Council for three years on resolving this issue which is regularly raised in surveys as being a nuisance and off putting for shoppers and various forms of regulation were tested before the issue was bought to the attention of the media by Paul Uppal MP last year.

We think this is a fantastic step forward and one that many over 40 other cities have adopted but we would urge the Government to look again at the implementation of the Charities Act 2006 which could have dealt with an issue which affects so many of our high streets.