To think putting packets of tissues next to people on the tube with a note is unlikely to make money?

[JeffsanArsehole]

The note said she couldn't find a job, had no money coming in and had a 2 year old.

I've had this a few times recently. Each time nobody has bought the tissues. Very strange.

It's the sort of thing you run into on the continent. Nobody ever seems to buy/ make eye contact but I assume they must or they'd stop doing it as no money.

Nope always reminds me of the blokes you used to get walking round pubs and restaurants with a sign saying I am deaf please buy my xxx. I bumped into one of them round a corner once talking on his mobile...

If she doesn't have any money how is she paying for the tissues?

I can't see it being a money spinner either.

This happened to me on a train once. When the lady came back past to pick them up again, the man in front of me swore at her, picked up the tissues and threw them out the window. I wanted to slap him.

Another time, someone bought the tissues. The lady just took the money and walked off, no smile or nod or anything. I won't be buying them. But I won't throw them out onto a train track (idiot) either!

It's actually quite smart. Begging is a criminal offence and they could be arrested for it but by 'offering' you a product in return for your money they are technically not begging. I'm sure they're breaking another law but they're less likely to be arrested and I have seen people hand over notes before.

Some people do give money for the tissues. It must work as the central line stop to Shepherd's Bush always has these tissue sellers, it's not always a woman selling the tissues sometimes it's men too.

Beats working for a living.

In Europe this happens on the train regularly. It's all a con. They pretend to be deaf etc. It's just liek the 'beggars' who sit around all day in town centres saying nowhere to live, no food. But they smoke and have mobiles, etc.

Don't waste your brain cells worrying about it.

The people who do this are normally in organised gangs. They go through different methods of begging until one stops working or gets dicey with the law then they move on. There was a spate of children being used for begging in the early 00s until police raided camps and put children into care. They are often Roma.

It's a terrible idea to give money to these people, they'll see little of it and are often not much more than slaves.

How do they afford the London train ticket?

You see this on the Tube sometimes. In my experience everyone ignores the person. The 'I have a child' ruse is just to tug at your heartstrings. It is begging plain and simple and most people who worry about the homeless will give to recognised charities. There is no telling what these people's lives are like.

Yes, I'm on the district line twice a day and it's always different people, equally men and women doing it.

Today it was the same woman both times at 9am and 2pm so she was likely doing it all day.

I think it would be better if it was 'begging', people can easily get into situations where their benefits haven't come in or an emergencies happened. But saying you can't get a job in London seems like a mistake to me, there are thousands of jobs in London. There is no way it's hard to find a job (if you're not fussy) in London.

But they smoke and have mobiles, etc

Good god, do people really still think like this? If you have uncertain housing, then a mobile is one of the first things that you will pay for, when you get money. A pay as you go will mean that friends and family can get hold of you, and when you have money you can call them, can chase jobs, and so on.

Jeffsanarsehole there are jobs, but there being a job available and someone being willing to give that job to you are two different things. How many people are going to give a job to a Roma woman who walks off the street? And not just Roma, either - I have a young friend, respectable, hard-working, well-groomed, educated, counted as middle-class in his home country before circumstances forced him out. He has a typical Muslim name and hardly ever got invited to interviews. He changed his name by deed poll to an Anglicised version, and got interviews almost immediately. (He's now in a good job.)

i dont agree that its easy to get job in london even if not fussy. if there are lots of people trying to sell the tissues then it looks a bit suss to me

I'm not sure the ones I've seen so far are from a minority that might be discriminated against.

ghost I'm interested why you think it might be difficult to get a job. I've seen 3 coffee shops that I walk past to work with signs in the window - it honestly looks to me like places are desperate for staff

Most places have more applicants than there are vacancies IME. There are a lot of jobs in London but even more people applying for them.

The ones I've seen with the tissues have appeared to be Roma to me. I could well be wrong of course.

I wondered the same thing about affording the train ticket! even if they do manage to sell any... surely they must be making a loss after the ticket costs. Are there any stations these days that don't have barriers?

I'm pretty sure the tissue people near me are Roma. They get the train into town from my local station where there are no barriers. I did buy some once - she happened to come past at the exact time I needed a tissue. They also collect scrap metal which is handy. Any metal junk I want rid of I just leave it on the front wall and it's gone the next day. I wouldn't say it 'beats working for a living', they seem to put in a lot of hours for what must be peanuts.

A lot of young people in London are still finding it tough to get a job. Even the most menial jobs seem to want experience. If you don't speak English very well I can imagine it is very difficult to find something.

Begging, scamming, most people know to ignore.

If a ticket inspector sees they run off quickly or are escorted off.

Some people get suckered in to a sob story.

OH has been taken in twice now by them.

One was even well reported on google but he did not want to take the chance and was embarrassed when he realised he'd been had by a professional beggar.

They're probably waiting for your purse to appear so they can swiftly remove any money in it hopefully without you noticing. DH was daft enough to fall for the flower selling scam once and caught the woman red handed dipping into his wallet, thankfully he was fast enough to snatch it back before she scarpered.

Well YABU to make a blanket statement that it's easy to get a job in London if you're not fussy. It depends. I was made redundant and couldn't find a job for a while in my small, specialist field. No shop/cafe would consider me and I couldn't even sign up for temp office work. Due to being a graduate, overqualified, no experience in those kind of roles etc. Even though I could have easily done them and was willing to, it was obvious I was going to leave as soon as I could get back to my career! Then again, I wasn't selling tissues on the District Line as an alternative.

I remember the child scam in the early 2000s on the Tube. A Roma woman sat in the entrance corridor to the outlying Tube stations with a small child that was drugged to keep them quiet all day. The women had a male 'handler' who came round collected the money off them at regular intervals. There were also older child beggars walking through carriages, again Roma, also with a male 'handler'.

The flower ladies pinning a piece of heather on you. Put your hand on your purse and mobile and keep walking. Its a distraction technique.

I don't think they can find a job 'if they are not fussy' (hmm face).
They don't speak English for a start, no experience, no references.
It is a scum but the ones who sell thetissues are just being used by someone else so i do feel sorry for them:-(

the worse professional begging I ever saw (well best, in terms of success) was a guy begging at Clapham Junction station a few years back. I had just bought something in a station shop and gave him my change which was a few coppers. Not much but I was a student and didn't have much and he was getting given lots of money while I'd been standing there.

I did a bit of shopping out on the street and a bit later I went to catch my bus and when I got on the guy who'd been begging was already on there from further up. I watched him sorting out his takings, pulling handfuls of coins from various pockets which he was piling up in his lap - but only the pound coins. He was chucking any coppers (including mine presumably) on the floor!

It's an organised begging scam. They all have exactly the same not and normally work in small groups on different parts of the train.

I have no doubt the actually people are in a bad situation and being 100% exploited, but you aren't helping by giving them money.