AIBU to give money to the ladies who literally lie flat on their faces in the street?

[pa1oma]

I was wondering if I could ask people’s opinions on something please? ... In recent weeks / months when I’m out and about shopping, I’m seeing noticeably more of the (mainly Iranian, I think) ladies who lie on their face in the street, wailing and begging for money. For instance, in Kensington there was another one today and several down Champs Elysees as well as Hammersmith last week and it’s very distressing, but DH says not to give them anything because neither them or their children will see any of it. He says they are being put out their by a gang leader who uses these women and sends them out to beg because they are more likely to get money than a man who is begging. What do people think and do you give money to these women? I’m never sure what to do.

@SentientAndCognisant

On most streets and in particular busy high density areas there are PCSO and police patrols they know already The beggars are located on a patch for a considerable time,and are visible to police and other agencies Sometimes there are joint operations with LA and police to address the ASB involving the adults & children

If they wanted to do something they obviously could. I'm baffled as to the reason they don't.

If I ever saw babies in the street with beggars, I would call the police, yes. The women I’m talking about all do the same thing - they are wearing the chador and they kneel and out their face on the pavement with their arms outstretched with a bowl. The one today was lying flat forwards across the pavement and you could hear the wailing. But I have seen the Roma ones too, obviously. The other thing is, sometimes you see quite young girls just sitting with a blanket round them on the high streets. They look so vulnerable, I sometimes think maybe I should offer them a room, but Im worried about who they might be involved with. I know someone who offered her basement flat to a girl once and it brought the “boyfriend” and drug gangs to her door. You just don’t know what to do. But there’s so much homelessness and begging everywhere and it seems to be getting worse.

They are technically Roma usually rather than standard Romanian/Bulgarian people who are ethnically different. I feel terribly sorry that they are part of modern day slavery but giving them money will perpetuate it. The babies I feel worst for.

"Regular" beggars will happily accept food usually so always offer that or a hot drink

@saltycat

I do feel for those trafficked into this scam. But if WE know it is a scam the police obviously know this also and I would ask what are they doing to stop it and protect these women.

But they aren’t trafficked as such. That’s a misunderstanding. It’s their job, their community. It’s what they are brought up doing, literally as babies.

If people are seeing babies they think are drugged they need to call the police then and there

Can't they not use those dolls which look like real?

This is really upsetting :( I'd ring the police if I saw women and especially babies being abused like this.

Of course the police et al do something,but it’s a habitual and huge problem
Quite simply,There’s more OCG beggars than there are police and other agencies
If you really want it dealt with don’t give any money. Stop the revenue source

@nunnun

Jeez, I'm glad I live in a small town up north. I've genuinely never seen anything like it. This is quite a deprived area though so I guess they know they're unlikely to have any luck here.

Deprived areas are usually full of people who'd give what they can. The rich generally don't get that way by giving money away!

There are charities for trafficked/street girls - perhaps you could look them up (they tend to be area specific) and print out contact details and keep them in your bag so that you can pass the info to the girls if you see them. Or just stick a poster up near the area you usually see them in the hope they might see it.

Of course the gang members may see and take the info off them but maybe they wouldn't.

I sat on the 25 bus once and saw a gang of Roma women pull all the wallets they had pickpocketed/begged from their babies nappies to count the cash. They then proceeded to encourage a little boy to punch a toddler girl while they laughed.

I was young and scared and I didn't do anything at the time. I think I would call the police nowadays but I still don't know if they/social services would actually do anything.

There was a man with a dog outside our local Aldi's , l went in and bought the dog some food and a bottle of water , you should have seen the mans face . Little did he know that l knew him , he had a house , a car , he wasn't a homeless person at all. I saw him quite regularly cycling home from town, miles ahead of his poor dog . Awful man .

There are charities for trafficked/street girls

I doubt it’s relevant. They won’t see themselves as trafficked, and I don’t think they are. I suspect they are not involved in prostitution at all, because of cultural reasons. Does anyone know if that’s the case?

Oh god, never get taken in by the babies. Apart from the sheer CFery, it pisses me off that they assume I will go all gooey eyed over their infant. I'd much rather give old Mac from the park a couple of quid, knowing full well that he'll buy cans.

Also don't challenge them! I told off 2 boys on the tube once as begging is an offence and suddenly felt so vulnerable

I saw a white English beggar take a tenner off my idiot husband once then get picked up in A fancy card so it's not specific to anyone!

@Mrsmadevans
That’s not the sort of beggar that is being referred to.

Yes the OCG coerce women who beg into prostitution.Its all about money
The women are considered commodities,there’s no humanity. And certainly no cultural restrictions

This was from our local force last year.

I (polishing my halo now) just give a few bob per month to a local homess shelter, and donate to food banks when I can.

Sorry now, but I NEVER give money to street people. And in fairness with tap card and all that it is rare that I would have any coins on my person anyway. That will ease it all eventually, unless they get a machine to tap your card whilst begging.

Total scam and is organised crime for the women anyway. Maybe some men but I doubt it. They are the bosses.

Interesting and saddening discussion.

As a bit of a side note, if any of you travel to southern Africa then please do give to beggars there. Its almost always from genuine poverty and there's more than the charities can keep up with. Food is fine too and is often what people will ask for.

@mrsjbaptiste it did cross my mind the baby might be dead and it upset me deeply i was 14 or 15 at the time and i still think about it nearly 15 years later.

OohThatCat Currently installed: all darker skin and notably deeply tanned, are two gentlemen who act as if severely neurologically damaged, known as the bobble heads.Wear longer tops and trousers down very low to give the impression of very short legs. Walk with heads lolling from side to side knees bent and feet at almost impossible angles facing each other with toes in the air, (until the lights change then straighten up and walk back) Mr starey possibly wandering eye, oddly straight beard, varies his disability according to which junction. "x very small older lady's with trainers, stick, headscarf and warm jacket regardless of weather. one well padded one slim (All living in Wood Green in the house the 'cut down crutches group' used to live)
Every night the foxes clear up the abandoned food, and any bits left scooped by crows and magpies first thing. every week the council remove the worst of the part sipped water bottles. If you look you'll see spilled abandoned copper coins on the ground.

Happened a lot in Paris when I worked there, they always had a very well behaved baby, the rumour was that the babies were doped to stay quiet all day.

daisypond which Roma will generally be the decider, in the same way as generally but not always, most UMC girls don't get found at street prostitution level, so could be considered generally class/culture protected from it. (doesn't mean other things aren't happening of course)

Find a organised association to give to, it ends up the right hands

All the "homegrown" beggars near where I work seem to have disappeared and now Roma ones proliferate.

Ditto, the Big Issue sellers. I start work early and the gang master was shouting at women (some quite elderly) and they spread out. They approach people outside pubs rather than stand at a pitch.

They have now moved into my suburban High Street. Presumably because central London is quiet at the moment.

I used to be an Oxford Street regular but stopped because of them. They not only beg, they pickpocket too.

Zilch sympathy for them, they are con artists. They are just one more reason to avoid the High Street.

(I have sympathy for those genuinely homeless. But they aren't. They are global scammers.)