Charity collectors that enter restaurants with buckets... legit or not?

[ArmyofHarmony]

I was sat in a restaurant a couple of hours ago and a guy entered with a charity bucket asking for donations to help the disabled.

I trust nobody so assume any official charity will not be coming into restaurants to look for donations but a friend of mine donated 70p.

We had a debate regarding whether this guy was legit or not. In the end we asked him... took photos of his ID etc.

The charity is registered on a .gov.uk website though there is no phone number, on the government website that I could call to see if they have legit street collectors in operation. The charity itself has a website (that of course looks terrible and put together in 5 minutes... but it does seem legit).

Couple of things here:

1) I could go on gov.uk, get some legit charity details, print an ID badge with those details and wear a t-shirt adorning a charity logo. Then comfortably walk round London collecting from people... I imagine one in 10 people will feel guilty enough to pop a few pence in a bucket at the very least. The vast majority of people will not check if I was legit so I wouldn't even have to worry about using real charity credentials.

2) Is walking into restaurants with charity buckets even legal? Even if this guy was legit, surely they can't just enter restaurants/pubs and beg for money.

So what do you guys think? Legit or not?

 

[MatsyLR]

I thought they only had a legal right to stand outside, not go into buildings and do it.
Then again, I still don't see the point in people who collect from the general public...why not go to the rich people and ask for money? most the general public cant afford to give any decent amount of money away.

Totally relevant (the last 1min)

 

[NoobCannon]

Guys Prob legit but also prob not aloud to come and hassle you. Chugging should be banned

 

[SPG]

Poke them in the eyes, take the bucket off them and tell them in no strict terms you can have it back when I have finished my dinner. Then complain to the manager about how you meal was interrupted by a complete stranger off the street and demand compensation in some form.

Utterly intolerable.

 

[Emlyn_Dewar]

Did you bring it up with management of the restaurant?
I don't go out for a meal, to have some guy shaking a bucket in my face... Great atmosphere.:/

 

[ArmyofHarmony]

Let's just say I was in a very hipster place where the management were essentially hippies that believe we live in a place where everybody is good, unicorns and rainbows, quinoa and almond milk. They actually asked us if the guy was legit, and didn't seem to care he was in there.

I need a stat like "90% of charity collectors that enter shops are fake" or something to back up my argument

Did you bring it up with management of the restaurant?
I don't go out for a meal, to have some guy shaking a bucket in my face... Great atmosphere.:/

 

[datalol-jack]

Tbf, if a man can approach me to sell dodgy, bootlegged DVDs in a CCTV-monitored business, I'm sure a charity bucket ninja won't raise an eyebrow. They can be moved on by security/staff if they are interfering with the normal function of the business, though.

 

[Luckystrike123]

Wouldn't he need the restaurants permission, otherwise I don't see the problem with him being there - although the intrusion would likely annoy me.

 

[Malevolence]

A few days back there was a bloke standing in Hanley (just outside the Potteries centre, in between Boots and Greggs) wearing the mankiest, cheapest and most sinister looking Sooty costume that you could only visualise in a nightmare. It was threadbare and looked as if he'd been wearing it for months whilst he lived in a ditch.

He was just stood there with a bucket at his feet doing nothing but giving thumbs up to passers by. No ID, no charity placard/posters or anything that even hinted at him collecting for a charity. He was coining it in until the police removed him.

 

[esoteric]

Until charities start coming around with card readers my stance remains the same. "Sorry I use my cards for everything and don't have cash"

 

[datalol-jack]

Until charities start coming around with card readers my stance remains the same. "Sorry I use my cards for everything and don't have cash"

A man after my own heart! Contactless or smartphone payments or nothing. The direct debit forms are the worst, though. I'd prefer to do them sat at home on a comfy mechanical keyboard not on someone's tablet at the worst time possible!

 

[pooley]

Matsy although the vid is funny take it down as this is a family forum and the mods won't like it..