It’s a good few years ago now but the local press in Aberdeen did an investigation into begging in the town centre and found most were professional beggars taking in £200-400 a day and then went home at night. Actual homelessness doesn’t seem to have worsened with the downturn. Always been 2-3 folk in the doorways along Union Street sleeping rough.
Con-artists and junkies. I travel in to London regularly and the ones near places like kings x are all just con artists. Normally eastern European or 'asylum seekers' you catch them feigning injury, changing in to dirty clothes, I've even seen them do what I can only describe as shift handovers to the next one. Saw someone go with a load of sandwiches from boots and start offering them out, she was declined and they asked for the cash instead! The look on her face was brilliant.
There a few in Dorch town but they are all called Dave and all share the same story, Strange coincidence tbh and lucky they all ended up in the same place
I see them all the time in my city. It is worse in the summer as they congregate here for the tourists and warmer weather. They are generally all dirty, smelly and drunk up on alcohol. Wallowing in their on filth, in street doorways and shouting abuse at passers by. The borough council have introduced clamping of homeless. The clamps will be bolted on to any homeless person found motionless or asleep after 9pm at night. This is the time when they start accumulating in shop doors ways. The clamps ensure that any drunk causing a blockage are forced to stay put when they wake up. They have probably have been sick too. They are then to be prosecuted and punished. I think its outrageous this could be allowed in these days today.
Bristol used to have a load of them, usually outside cash points. Worst were the ones that kept going around all the tables outside pubs asking for money and drinking the dregs when people left. Those ones had strong eastern European accents and looked like alcoholics. No idea if it's improved recently.
Don't feel bad, UK beggers aren't the genuinely needy. It's now an industry dominated by Eastern European gangs.
I only really have my own city as an example (Chelmsford) but all the homeless people I see here are around 24/7 in winter and summer. There's been an obvious increase in homeless as you maybe used to have 1 or 2 but now there are at least 10 just on the high street They are all white british (not Eastern European) and are often off their heads on alcohol and drugs. They are damaged people and something needs to be done as it's appalling but I don't have a solution. I have given money to homeless shelter charities in the past but never been actively involved.
the ones who thank you when you dont give them anything and just walk past are right characters...have a good day...thank you etc
I came here to post about Manc. Was there for work on Monday and there were absolutely tons of them everywhere. Went back to Piccadilly via the Alan Turing monument and there were loads camped out in the park there enjoying the sunshine. There are always a few where I live but not on the scale of what I saw there.
In Leeds they've all now got dogs because they've figured people will give them more money if they have a dog, I've literally watched the market change over the past few years, one of them had a dog and now they all do. You're an idiot if you give money to any of them.
Couldn't the homeless be turned into tyres? So then we'd still have homeless, but we could use them on our cars.
I hate the people who brag about it in person and/or on social media, do your so called good deed why the need to constantly tell people about it. Feed their drug/alcohol and other problems as some of dont have any problems at all as they get in their audi and go back to their mansion.
Manchester is ridiculous. Huge amounts of begging. They want scooping up. I blame the local labour government. Spineless. They only want money for drugs, don’t bother offering food!They get as much food as they want for free and a roof over their heads each night if they want all from local charities etc.
Depends when you go, the con artists are reasonabky easy to spot, they follow the same pattern and use the same technique. However if you rock up at kings cross at 7 or 8 am peak commuter time you'll see a raft of people asleep in doorways, off their heads on spice or just generally wandering arouns, many of them appear to have mental health issues. These people are genuinely in need.
I'll resist making any assertions on the legitimacy of homelessness and its causes in the UK (it's a bit of a powder keg in the current political climate), but what I have noticed many times is clearly organised gangs of professional beggars in and around central London. Groups of people, often women and often of Middle-Eastern appearance will 'work' specific areas of affluence or ones that are popular with tourists. They beg far enough away from each other as to not arouse suspicion but are clearly organised in a specific pattern. Eventually a van or an old Japanese car driven by a shady looking chap car will come to collect them, presumably once they've met their quotas. It's a bit sad actually because I'd imagine those women are acting under duress, although I could be wrong of course. It doesn't seem like the authorities have the appetite to do anything about the rise of begging so it's only going to get worse.
I rarely give money nowadays as there are too many professional beggars. A couple of weeks ago I was on a train I to London on a Saturday. Sat opposite me was what looked like a typical Romanian beggar woman with a baby in a pram. She was talking on a pristine iPhone. The rain cover was pulled over the pram (it was a hot sunny day) but when I looked closer there was no baby inside, just a bunch of blankets. She was obviously commuting into work.
