I have blogged before about the begging scams, that see good beggars making between £1,000 and £1,200pw tax free, whilst often receiving welfare benefits and free housing benefit tax free as well. Police and court figures suggest that fewer than one in five people arrested for begging in England and Wales are actually homeless.
Four out of five of those begging on the streets are simply making fools of us all ... whether you care to believe it or not.
Unfortunately many people don't believe it, despite the overwhelming evidence being easy to find. They are seemingly incapable of believing that people would lie to them so blatantly. Or that for the real alcoholic or junkie beggars, giving money to them just allows them to spend more on alcohol or drugs, not to help them get on their feet .... that in fact giving the money is doing harm not good.
In one major city, I have seen people give beggars sandwiches etc, only for them to be thrown away as soon as the good Samaritan disappears. They only want money .... not food charity. In Leamington Spa, the housing charity Helping Hands has reported that professional beggars have swarmed to the town, and that some make up to £73,000 pa. Many, if not most of them are junkies and actually are not homeless. The chairwoman of the charity Lianne Kirkman has advised that "we should not be giving out money on the streets" as many of these addicts are making around £200 per day, which is simply fuelling their addictions.
Well, listen to this man admitting to fraudulent begging ,and making between £100 to £200 per day doing so, with the frank admission that 'plenty of us do it'. He has a car and a flat, but begs as it pays so well. In fact there have even been incidents of 'beggars' fighting over the most lucrative pitches in some towns and cities ..... this is because the misguided and gullible fuel the fraudsters.
Stop giving to beggars, its either a fraud and scam, or damages the real beggars even more as they use the money to get more drugs of choice.
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| Honest, But All Too True For Many .... |
Four out of five of those begging on the streets are simply making fools of us all ... whether you care to believe it or not.
Unfortunately many people don't believe it, despite the overwhelming evidence being easy to find. They are seemingly incapable of believing that people would lie to them so blatantly. Or that for the real alcoholic or junkie beggars, giving money to them just allows them to spend more on alcohol or drugs, not to help them get on their feet .... that in fact giving the money is doing harm not good.
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| Begging Is A Criminal Offence - We Rarely Remember This. |
In one major city, I have seen people give beggars sandwiches etc, only for them to be thrown away as soon as the good Samaritan disappears. They only want money .... not food charity. In Leamington Spa, the housing charity Helping Hands has reported that professional beggars have swarmed to the town, and that some make up to £73,000 pa. Many, if not most of them are junkies and actually are not homeless. The chairwoman of the charity Lianne Kirkman has advised that "we should not be giving out money on the streets" as many of these addicts are making around £200 per day, which is simply fuelling their addictions.
Well, listen to this man admitting to fraudulent begging ,and making between £100 to £200 per day doing so, with the frank admission that 'plenty of us do it'. He has a car and a flat, but begs as it pays so well. In fact there have even been incidents of 'beggars' fighting over the most lucrative pitches in some towns and cities ..... this is because the misguided and gullible fuel the fraudsters.
Stop giving to beggars, its either a fraud and scam, or damages the real beggars even more as they use the money to get more drugs of choice.
Manchester is very baffor Bennington asypu have posted before. The train station approaches are very bad. Junkies and alcoholics every few yards. Plus a large number of fake beggars (the ones with kit bags, seats and pathetic whines).
ReplyDeleteI think your predictive spell checker may have run amok there. I translate that as "Manchester is very bad for Begging as you have posted before." Thanks for the comment. I suspect most major towns have similar problems,
Delete1824 Vagrancy Act, allows the police/courts to prosecute anyone asking the public for money on the streets. But if it doesn't end in jail, then they go back to begging. Fining them is obviously a futile act if they are truly homeless but when they are professional beggars would deter them, as would referring those cases to the Department of Work and Pensions benefits fraud teams.
ReplyDelete