I was recently contacted by a local resident who reported that on 26th August the King Arthur’s area was invaded by a high pressure sales team from a deaf charity.  Their reflective jackets had ASDC on them and basically their patter was very similar to Time Share, Double Glazing and the early days of the Power companies.  It consisted of trying to get access to each person’s home, pulling out out a form and getting them to commit to a direct debit.

This, of course, is no way for a reputable charity to behave and I referred the matter to the council’s licensing manager. The reply was less than encouraging.

Unfortunately collection of money for charitable purposes by direct debit falls completely outside of current charity collection law and there is nothing that we can do to prevent this type of activity. It is quite common and used by many of the established charities. Persons undertaking this type of work have earned the rather unkind nickname of chugger, meaning charity mugger. However I think this does indicate the level of unease over this type of activity and it is to be hoped that the new Charities Act will address this and make direct debit collections licensable. Unfortunately at the present time we do not know when the new Act will come into force.

Until the new act does come into force I would recommend all residents to ignore these high pressure techniques, never allow people into your homes if you are suspicious of them and if in doubt – contact the police.

If you really want to support a charity, do it through their website, not a chugger.