To feel a bit harassed by charity worker

[Hardknocks]

Was on my way back from a meeting in London this evening, had to stop at the ticket machine to get my ticket a charity person came over to ask for a donation - I said I couldn’t afford it (I couldn’t), but I usually do give something. However this guy was so pushy, putting leaflets in my face, telling me he lost his brother to knife crime etc etc. He put £25 into his card reader and just kept saying ‘just tap your phone, tap your phone’. I politely asked him to move so that I could get past and through the train barrier but he said not until I tap.. so feeling completely intimidated I did.

I feel stupid, I couldn’t afford £25. I don’t begrudge giving to charity at all and I do where I can. AIBU to feel a bit upset about the whole thing.

There are several of these community interest companies (cics) also claiming to "fight knife crime" or get young people into work. Inside Success was one, the Knife Crime Activists another but they seem to have been displaced now by others. They are not charities.
They frequent central London train stations and employ very young men (and sometimes women) to collect money either through charm and persistence or on occasion more aggressively.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13459943/Exposed-3million-hand-anti-knife-charitys-pushy-High-Street-collectors-REALLY-ends-up.html

I'd complain too. Maybe look into your bank to cancel the payment.

Yep 1000% a scam. Ring your bank.

£25 is a very healthy donation by most people’s estimation. Nobody should feel harassed into giving anything to charity. This sounds very suspicious & I wonder whether you escaped a nasty scam.

Sadly the Evening Standard stopped publishing some weeks ago. Metro is still produced though, so they might pick it up.

Its been replaced by The London Standard, which is published on Thursdays only, and has limited distribution in London, compared to the Evening Standard. It also has more magazine-style features than news content, which is to be expected given it's a weekly, rather than daily, publication.

a few months ago i had time on my hands so i stopped and chatted with one of these knife crime fundraisers with the blue jackets.
was told that they tried to get kids off the street by engaging them in public speaking and building confidence. asked what sort of public speaking they did. the answer was standing outside the station asking for donations. that appears to be the extent of their community outreach. I had to laugh

One of these guys tried it with my husband last week. Thankfully (in this case), getting money out of my husband is like getting blood out of a stone. My husband, showed the guy the holes in his socks and said "I told you I was poor", the guy then left him alone 😂

@Hardknocks please contact the British Transport Police and the Station first thing, so that they can review the CCTV. This really does need reporting. Also contact the MP for the area. This is really unacceptable.

I would try to report it to the station manager (ask for cctv footage), British Transport Police (get a crime number from them), TFL and the bank/card supplier.

He basically mugged you by demanding money with menaces and prevented you from getting through the ticket barrier without paying - and it sounds like he scared you too (unsurprisingly - he sounds really scary and like it was a really traumatic experience).

Use the crime number to report it to your bank and try to get the footage to BTP and TFL - all might help them in building a dossier of the scum that are doing this to innocent people even if they can’t do anything with it to start with or specifically to bring charges in this instance.

i would also ask the Bank and police to see if they can stop the account from accepting more money as it is being used scam people - even if it slows them down for a few days while they sort out a new one. It should also help with getting your ‘enforced donation’ back…

Good luck and hope you recover from that experience very soon.

Please if you ever come up against this again put you had up in a 'stop' action and say 'move away please. Stop now' and walk away. If they continue say 'I have asked you to leave me alone. you are now harassing me. Step back' in a loud voice.
Do not feel embarrassed. Everyone around you will be on your side.

Definitely report them. Awful tactics, and I'd go via your bank too, tell them you were forced into paying.
I'm afraid where chuggers of any sort are concerned, either in the street or at the door, I tell them all to fuck off. "Don't you care about dogs/children/dead babies?" No, couldn't give a fuck. I've perfected a death stare and "Fuck off out of my sight, now" to the extent that the chuggers near my work avoided me. They don't deserve good manners, and don't get them.

He probably was genuine tbh. All these “charity muggers” are pushy, they’re trained to be. Some are worse than others though.

I once had a gang of three (3), two of whom were men, knock on the door of my flat and try to blag their way in because they needed a surface to write on. I didn’t let them in but I couldn’t quite persuade them to go away either.

I did everything I could think of to put them off as they were filling in the direct debit forms. I even tried pretending not to know my own post code
but they just picked up some mail left for my neighbours and got it from that (!). Talk about not taking a hint.

Oh and I had to pay £10 a month because the £5 option was “for students”. I know they were legit as well because they called the charity to put the payment through and it showed up on my bank account as a payment to the charity when I called up to cancel a few days later.
To this day I’ve no idea why I just didn’t slam the door in their faces. I must of been in a charitable mood (no pun intended).

There was also the one who I met in the street on my lunch break who, when told I had no money on me, kindly offered to accompany me bak to my office but I was able to just walk away from her.

Oh yes, i hate this "don't you care about XYZ?". I had one knock on my door when I was 38w pregnant with very high uncontrolled BP, monitoring at the hospital every 2 days, stressed about baby and managing my toddler. She was rude about the fact I was still in my PJs at 11am and then gave me that line when I said no. I was so incensed I wrote to the charity and told them I would never donate any money to them whilst they outsource to people who fundraise using such tactics. It was a major UK charity as well.

A friend and I got cornered by a charity mugger in a restaurant once - she didn't have permission from the restaurant to be there, and was being very intrusive and pushy. We refused to make a donation, and when she left, she stood outside the window, next to where we were sitting, and swore at us.

We reported it to the restaurant and complained to the charity, and got apologies from both - we didn't blame the restaurant, but just wanted them to know what these people were doing on their premises, so they could keep an eye out for them and prevent them coming in again. They were horrified, and gave us a free dessert each.

I've spoken to station staff today. They say they have called the BTP when they were entering the station recently, and are also in touch with the council. They also reported harassment when turning up for work in their civvys, and were sympathetic and as helpful as they can be.

I was encouraged to speak with BTP/the council as appropriate. Will report back when (if) I hear from Islington Council...and in the meantime, will report any witnessed incidents to the BTP.

The brand of Uplifterz (sic, vom) uses blue, so it may well have been them. I have sent a note round the office to warn people not to engage.

https://uplifterz.co.uk/

Yabu for going along with it. A firm no and walk on.

Love the way they can't even decide on how to spell the name! Is it Cortiez or Corteiz?

Don't let them intimidate you. My usual response is Karen face and fuck off, said very loudly. Can't be arsed with those idiots anymore.

Why would you tap your phone instead of starting the video camera and recording his behaviour while informing him you were going to send it to the charity with a complaint?

Because she was intimidated that's why... its very easy fornyountonsit at home and say that but you might find it harder if faced with the actual situation

Hi op,

you should report him. Charities don’t need this bad publicities.

terrible!!

They're not called CHUGGERS for nothing!

Seriously!???

People have gone mad

Oh gosh, I had no idea! That’s sad.