To think the Co op should not allow this?

They're usually outside my station, in their dozens, it's like running a gauntlet.
I've no idea how much engagement they get because people are either a) rushing for their train or b) trying to get to work. I never speak to them.

They often say they just want a moment of my time....except they don't, they want all my details. They don't want a moment of my time to discuss how fabulous Sifan Hassan is or how epic the pole vault final was at the Olympics!

I think I went to far with the chugger who asked me if I am against knife crime. I told him that actually, I'm all for it and there's nothing I like better on a Saturday than going out and shanking a few people.

This! They get paid very well to be a nuisance

I usually just ignore them, don’t say anything to them, just completely ignore them. But I had one chase me up the street once and I said to him are you getting paid for this? When he stuttered yes, I said well that’s not very charitable is it and he didn’t follow me when I walked away

Definitely going to use some of the come backs noted here if any annoy me again

Agree.

They tend to hang around railway stations as well. So irritating. Shelter were at Waterloo today. Fortunately they'd found other victims to hassle.

I smile and tell them that I give to charity through my work payroll as they match donations. (Was true at my former employer). They gape and I walk on by.

I agree it is beyond annoying.

Agreed.

Breast Cancer Now are the worst for it round here (Edinburgh)

Cheeky chappy type blokes in their 20s failing to read the room.

Tesco chucked them out so now they're in the Co-op here. I presume the stores are getting backhanders from the agencies who pay these charity muggers.

I saw one last week who stood in my way as i tried to get into a shop and told me how pleasant I looked - I just stonily walked past.

Next he waylaid a couple - lady said they had no cash and he said "It's ok we're not taking any cash today we wanted to talk to you about an exciting new way of raising money for charity" ... bet it involved their bank details!

I do think this is a free market for fraudsters though - pretend to represent a supposed charity and collect direct debit details. it could be sometime before people realised that it wasn't a chairty

I just tell them immediately that I don't do direct debits and they don't say anything else. They're very annoying though.

"I don't give to beggars" is my stock response if they don't accept a civil"No, thank you".

"I'm sorry I have a policy not to donate to charities who employ people to do what you're doing, as its morally questionable and preys on the vulnerable." Then walk on. Agree it shouldn't even be a thing though in a grocery shop.

Oh, the shopping experience in our shopping centre - first you are accosted by chuggers, then in Tesco there are people with leaflets telling you what to buy for a food bank, and finally at self checkout you are asked if you want to round up 25.99 to 30 pounds for charity or suchlike (idiotic request) and if you proceed to the manned checkout, there are always kiddies with their teachers - can we help you pack? With a begging bowl for the dance class or suchlike. Kiddies I can't say no to, but chuggers - no way. There are some really entitled chuggers too - they are 20 years of age and say - do you know how difficult it is for the young people to get a council flat? (Shelter). I kid you not - not 'how difficult it is for our ex servicemen to sleep rough' but literally 'do you know how difficult it is to get a council flat'? I tell them either to live with their parents or buy one, what is the problem? Or there is another one of my favourite 'adopt an elephant/hippo/donkey. I always say earnestly 'I am sorry I have a very small flat'. They continue, quite seriously, to tell me that you don't get to keep the animal, it is just a direct debit to feed them or whatever, at which point I look at them earnestly and say 'so, you are scamming me, right, saying adopt it and pay for it and don't give it to me?'

Yes, they've been doing it at our local small Co Op too! Very annoying. I tend to hang around and wait for another customer to leave just in front of me so they can accost someone else and leave me alone!

I think it's fair enough at large stores as you can avoid them more easily, but it's very poor form that they do it in smaller stores where it's much harder to avoid them.

It really is a menace. Some of them can be quite intimidating, and they do seem to target women. DH rarely gets approached, although teenage DD and I are often targets. Not a way to revive footfall in our dying high streets; no wonder so many people prefer to shop online.

I’ve seen it too. And while I just say I’m not interested I feel really bad for the vulnerable older people I see them signing up.

Nothing unusual is it? I like the ones that sit there with a face of thunder and just say the cause and nothing else, literally heard one say in a monotonous voice "kids with cancer"

If I have the time, ask them at length all about their charity - in French. I've yet to find one who understands, and I make a point of gesticulating and demanding their attention as many possible targets walk by, usually with a grin and sometimes a thumbs-up.

Good! He's obviously a tosser.

Chuggers seemed to disappear for a while but now they are back.

And don’t get me started on the awful ‘donate £1 to charity?’ options on card machines in some shops and service stations. Not even naming the alleged ‘charity’.

I had this at ASDA a few weeks ago, electricity company just outside the door and animal charity just inside - so irritating

You do know that a lot of these people are "collecting" on a fee/commission basis, so they can be annoyingly persistent with the hard sell..

Just say - no I hate animals

Chugger = charity mugger

I would mean a person paid to recruit donations, generally direct debit. Not can rattlers/bag packers who are volunteers

I hate this with a passion. I don't want to engage so I walk straight past them. That's if they haven't stepped right in front of me first. Without fail, there's a smart ass comment or a sarcastic wish to have a good day.

It especially annoys me when you know that they chug for any charity going, not people who volunteer specifically for a cause they give any hoots about.

We have hordes of them in our pedestrianised town centre.

One young man takes great delight in standing in front of my mobility scooter and when I say a polite no thanks starts to "dance" around me - as in are you going this way or that way.

Saw him earlier and sped up towards him till he jumped out of the way.