Charity collectors 'driving out shoppers'?

Shrewsbury's business chamber is set to discuss the issue of charity collectors for the first time amid concerns that they are driving shoppers away from the town centre.

Chamber chairman said the issue of "charity muggers" or "chuggers", who patrol Pride Hill trying to get people to pledge donations by handing over their bank details, had been around for some time.

He said: "If feedback from our customers is they are feeling harassed and can't walk down the street then something needs to be done.

"Sometimes there's an awful lot of them, it seems like one charity will have six or seven people in Pride Hill.

"You can feel like you're dodging them constantly. It could be bad for business as it's annoying."

Last week it was reported that councils in London were looking at ways to restrict street fundraisers after a survey found 500 of them working on four roads over a six-week period.

Mr Airey said regulation ought to be adopted in Shrewsbury.

He said: "It might come under discussion with the chamber as we have strong retail representation."

He added that he thought the problem was particularly bad in Shrewsbury because it was one of the busiest retail streets in the county.

Carol Foster, licensing team leader at Shropshire Council, said there was currently no legislation to limit direct debit collectors but the Government had outlined plans to introduce new laws next year.

She said: "We work alongside the charities and have an informal arrangement where no more than one charity comes to Shrewsbury in any one week."