Giving to a person begging on the Underground

Ana, this is not about the numbers of people who ask for money , if I have no money I say so, if I have I give it, quite simple isn't it

If you live and/or work in a major city you'd soon be flat broke yourself if you handed out 'a few pounds' to every beggar you came across!

Perhaps joannewton it makes it easier to refuse to give a few pounds

How sad that we have reached a situation where
most writers assume that every beggar is going to spend the money on drink or drugs or is conning people.

Not surprising they refuse food if desperate for a fix , with the cut backs in the NHS we have few rehab centres , they need help

I have a friend who always works for Crisis at Christmas where it is suggested to volunteers that they never give money because it's quite likely the recipient will spend them on drugs or drinks. Instead they should offer to take them for something to eat and drink. I've adopted this policy now and it's surprising how many people refuse the food and drink.

A vegetarian who refuses a meat sandwich isn't genuine?

I am foolish because I give money? I don't agree, I do not believe I should tell a person what I think is good for them and dismiss then as cheats if they don't eat when I think they should eat or what they should eat , I think that would be arrogant of me

Synonymous it is a little unkind to call those who do give 'foolish' or easily led. As to the numerous urban myths about beggars jumping into large expensive cars after earning £800 a day....piffle. I understand that there is organised crime involved in begging, I am not stupid, but to tar all beggars as being part of this is on a par with saying that all benefit claimants are bogus. Just one small point to those who have kindly offered food to beggars and had it refused....perhaps you are the third or fourth kind individual who has done this, and what they now need is a few pounds to put in the electric meter for heat when they get to wherever they call home?

'Robert's story is about as likely as those ones of the beggar who drives off in their BMW. They suit one agenda.

There are some very well organised beggar circles but they are known. They get arrested and deported every so often, and get trafficked back. These are the ones with tissues to sell. I note that tube trains now run messages on the intercom when they have these people on so it is recognised as, essentially, organised crime. If the women come home with no money they get beaten. Hopefully there is some help available to the women and children but groups and charites offering such help are pretty stretched these days.

On Saturday there were a record five people in the road outside my Tescos - more beggars in poor neighbourhoods as they are more charitable. I'd say three were the former, two were just sad byproducts of our 1%/99% world. I give food if I remember to buy any. I have a flat, my health and an education, and was lucky enough to be born at a time when all of these were possible to acquire.
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I would not give cash to a beggar. Food or a hot drink should be acceptable, if refused then they are not genuine.

i'm sorry but i don't give to anyone standing with their hand held out. while i have every sympathy with the homeless and others like them i just don't have the spare money to give.

i'm a disabled pensioner living on my pension and on a very strict budget - i'm afraid that with me the phrase "charity begins at home" is the one i follow.

Big Issue roughly price of latte.

its a differcult one to call , i recall a tv documentry some years ago where certain beggers where discreetly followed by said camera crew, to see them dressed in dirty clothes, unshaven, dirty nails etc, only to see them climb into a so called " chelsea tractor " at the end Of their " shift " it seems some work a given spot days & nights in various tourist places around london, supposedly some days making a couple of hundred pounds all tax free of course, then there's the ones with pets, they tug on the heart strings naturally, but it does not end there, i use the tube in london & some use a ploy of walking through a carriage , putting down a cheap packet of hand tissues with a note saying something like being homeless etc, just to get around the begging bylaws on the underground, have seen smartly dress children " working the trains " one pulls out an accordian, give's a short burst on it & his " co-workers " shuffle through the carrirage, baseball caps in hand asking for money, i personally only give money to charitys by direct debit, but have been ripped off by there as well , born free being a culprit.yes there must be plenty of geniune people in need of help but how do you decide who deserves that help?.

I was in Brighton and saw a man rifling through the bins for food. I suspect he was an alcoholic because his eyes had a yellow tinge to them. I gave him a fiver and knew that he would immediately go to a pub and try and blank out his miserable world.

I shouldn't have done it but I did.

If this actually happened, and I'm certain similar things happen in London on a daily basis, my guess is that the social worker was a fantasist and made up her story.

Perhaps the social worker was no such thing.There are lots of people who feel they know better than anyone else.It could have just been some one on a power trip.
I give to anyone who asks me and I will not change.

Also, when I was working I used to give a takeaway coffee/food to a teenager who begged in an underpass - never gave him money as he was a drug addict. He wasn't there one day and never came back and I think of him to this day when I see people begging.

There was an article in a paper last week about a man sitting on the pavement wrapped in a blanket begging - and a photo of him at the end of the day getting into his very expensive car. Just saying.

How do the earnings of a beggar get worked out, I wonder
I give food, especially if it's a cold day. Many years ago, when I was 20 I was desperate, too. I had somewhere to live but no money at all. I was in London and I stole an apple from a stall in market. My boyfriend made me take it back.
Here, in our village, we have a chap who lives rough (probably in the local woods). He rides about on his bike and he rakes through the bins for food. He doesn't talk to anyone, but if I'm nearby, I just pop into the shop and buy him a couple of pies. He says little, apart from a quiet 'thank you'.

To be fair, it was a kind gesture but the girl was vegetarian and this was her belief

DH is kind and generous. He was out one day and had just bought some sandwiches for his lunch. A young lady beggar approached him for some loose change as she was 'starving' He didn't have any, but offered the lady one of his sandwiches. He said 'would you like ham and cheese or roast beef?' Her reply....'No I wouldn't...I'm a vegetarian.'

How does the Birmingham Mail know the total collected in a day? Do they follow the person around or sit on a pavement keeping count of the money or do they carry out a body search?

I stopped buying The Big Issue several years ago as it became quite expensive.

Juggernaut I would agree. However if it starts to make people think more then it is a worthwhile exercise since it is obvious how trusting, innocent or foolhardy Joe Public can be.

A friend was involved in a case years ago where the person arrested for begging turned out to have a very nice lifestyle away from his 'begging job' with his own home, cars and foreign holidays. He and his colleagues ran a 'system' and pinpointed those who were gullible and 'milked' them. Someone else on this thread pointed out a report of a similar case in the news during the past week so it is nothing new and continues as people allow themselves to be taken advantage of by others.

In this welfare state with additional charities abounding there is no way that any innocent person should be in desperate need because they would have no reason not to be open to the authorities about their circumstances. That is why so many people fight to get over massive hurdles to get into this country.

Those who wish to help the vulnerable can join or support charities who really do need the money being siphoned off by criminal enterprise.