Beggers

[Bazooka Joe]

I suppose that if you were in a London station all day every day you could tap up hundreds in the course of a week and no tax to pay.

 

 

I know a lad up ours who would do that on weekend nights out in the bar,

 

it was a while before people cottoned on to him, it paid for his beer all weekend...

[Scully]

I was once approached by two women at the foot of the London Eye carrying a wicker basket of heather, asking if I would like to buy some 'lucky heather' for a local charity. I thought about it for a few seconds then asked if I could see their registered charity authorisation.

They sniggered, turned tail and wandered off.

[jam1e]

I have similar experiences whenever i visit Weymouth. They're usually dressed in part army gear and have bergans. I never give them money. The last one, which was in early July was 30 yards from a chippy. I bought him sausage and chips in a tray and got him a wood fork. He thanked me, and put it on the floor next to him, as we walked off into town. A few hours later we passed the same bloke, the food stone cold and pushed a few feet away from him. As i walked up behind him, i saw him covering something up near his face with a forces sleeping bag. I got closer and saw him txting on one of the latest phones!! I was both angry and insulted. I walked past him turned and said, you weren't hungry then, trying to keep my cool. He just put his head down.

I'm not saying this is the case with all, but how do you tell the good from the bad???

James

[Lloyd90]

I have similar experiences whenever i visit Weymouth. They're usually dressed in part army gear and have bergans. I never give them money. The last one, which was in early July was 30 yards from a chippy. I bought him sausage and chips in a tray and got him a wood fork. He thanked me, and put it on the floor next to him, as we walked off into town. A few hours later we passed the same bloke, the food stone cold and pushed a few feet away from him. As i walked up behind him, i saw him covering something up near his face with a forces sleeping bag. I got closer and saw him txting on one of the latest phones!! I was both angry and insulted. I walked past him turned and said, you weren't hungry then, trying to keep my cool. He just put his head down.

I'm not saying this is the case with all, but how do you tell the good from the bad???

James

5 other people could have bought him sausage and chips that day.

 

I'm sure you did a good thing but if someone is genuinely homeless and doesn't have a bed to sleep in for night, having 5 people all buying you a bag of chips a day ain't the solution is it?

 

Regardless of that, there will always be an element of society who'll never be able to get a job etc, or simply not wish to, they will forever drift through life scrounging or doing whatever they can get away with.

If you asked them some would say everyone else is a fool for working all their lives.

 

Where would you rather be?

[TIGHTCHOKE]

Years ago when I was unfortunate enough to have to travel by train, I was approached at Victoria Station whilst waiting for my connection.

 

The beggar asked if I had any change they could borrow? I asked when it would be paid back? The beggar changed tack and suggested they needed money for food.

 

I offered to buy a meal for them.

 

They then stated that would be a lot of trouble for me to go to and could they just have the money?

 

I pointed out that it would be no trouble as there was 25 minutes until my train departed.

 

Result, one beggar walks away grumbling and swearing.

 

Now if they had been genuinely homeless and hungry, a meal would have been welcomed.

 

I will not support their drug habit!

[ditchman]

cant comment ...otherwise it would end up with an automatic BAN..............

[fern01]

I was once approached by two women at the foot of the London Eye carrying a wicker basket of heather, asking if I would like to buy some 'lucky heather' for a local charity. I thought about it for a few seconds then asked if I could see their registered charity authorisation.

They sniggered, turned tail and wandered off.

 

They probably put a curse on you which can never be lifted

[jam1e]

Years ago when I was unfortunate enough to have to travel by train, I was approached at Victoria Station whilst waiting for my connection.

 

The beggar asked if I had any change they could borrow? I asked when it would be paid back? The beggar changed tack and suggested they needed money for food.

 

I offered to buy a meal for them.

 

They then stated that would be a lot of trouble for me to go to and could they just have the money?

 

I pointed out that it would be no trouble as there was 25 minutes until my train departed.

 

Result, one beggar walks away grumbling and swearing.

 

Now if they had been genuinely homeless and hungry, a meal would have been welcomed.

 

I will not support their drug habit!

I think that's what years in the Police does for you. You mistrust everyone. Like a retired copper once told me, when you leave the Police you realise there are some really nice people out there.

I think that's why i bought the food instead on an earlier post. The amount of "Homeless and Hungry" cardboard signs i saw when i started working as a cop in Worcester city a long time ago shocked me. But after 6 months in and having arrested half of them. I realised quite a few had places to go for the night, they just needed to make a tenner for a "10 bag" of Heroin. Which i agree is another topic that could be debated to....

[tandytommo]

On my way into London I use the Highway in Wapping, there are two petrol stations sort of opposite each other at the Tower Bridge end. Every morning there is a beggar outside the door of each station.

 

I have nothing against people who have no other option other than to beg to get by, but the two who "work" these two stations proper take the biscuit!. The one that sits outside the station heading into London arrives for work on a Specialized mountain bike, not cheap which he dosn't even try to hide, and also sports a pair of Jordan trainers and a SuperDry jacket.

 

The other one is similarly dressed and gets dropped off and picked up by his wife/girlfriend in a 17 plate BMW!!

 

What amazes me is people still give them change. Its obvious they ain't short of a few quid. And the petrol station staff just let them get on with it.

 

The chap who works the garage on the opposite side on the way out of London even offers a dog sitting service for dog walkers who want to do a bit of shopping, Both garages are the supermarket type so people park at the pumps to do thier shopping, something else that annoys me but thats another story.

 

Is this what begging has become now? .

Says a lot about BMW drivers, all free market and no moral compass, I'll not let them into a queue of traffic.