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03-03-2018, 09:27 PM
Gangs of professional beggars, who pleaded for cash while having a home and access to benefits, have been driven out of one town - to the relief of genuinely homeless people, who said the imposters made them look bad.
A controversial campaign by a Torquay businessmen has driven out a professional begging gang which had taken over the seaside town centre, of Devon, in recent years.
Pub and restaurant owner, Ashley Sims, 46, saw the deterioration of the harbour due to aggressive beggars and decided to take action - threatening to name and shame those falsely claiming to be homeless.
Ben Fone, a 29-year-old former mechanic, who has lived on the streets for the past 20 months after the end of his marriage and a mental breakdown, said: ‘I’m glad they’re gone. I think [professional begging] is disgusting. It makes the people who are really street homeless look bad.
‘I am not one of these con artists who come down on a Friday or Saturday night and make loads of money and then go home to a comfortable flat.
‘Because of what [professional beggars] do, people could walk past me and feed that person who has a home and benefits instead.’
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/02/28/09/49A336BA00000578-0-image-a-3_1519810129826.jpg
Businessman Ashley Sims is vowing to rid Britain's streets of professional beggars
Earnings in town centre shops had decreased by 60 per cent after aggressive beggars and drug users started intimidating shoppers, said Susie Colley, chairwoman of Torquay Chamber of Commerce.
Paramedics were also having to deal with beggars who had taken the drug Spice and fallen into zombie-like states several times a day, reported The Times.
Fed up of the disruption caused by professional beggars, Mr Sims took pictures of 17 beggars and showed them to staff at Humanity Torbay, a local homeless charity, as well a street pastor and a retired policeman.
Twelve of those photographed had recently been given help from the homeless charity with setting up a home and accessing benefits.
Mr Sims handed the images to the council so they could check if the beggars are in fact still on benefits.
Stickers and posters appeared in the town centre threatening street beggars that they would be photographed, and their pictures checked with the authorities to see if they were genuinely homeless, or professional beggars exploiting the plight of others.
The campaigners said it had been a huge success, and had led to a fall in the number of ambulance callouts to the town centre, possibly because there were fewer drug users posing as beggars.
Mr Sims says his campaign will now be rolled out nationally using a network of 270 photographers. He claims it will transform shopping centres bedevilled by the fake homeless.
He told MailOnline: 'I live in Torquay and I'm sick to death of people on benefits taking cash-in-hand jobs and begging in their spare time.
'They are very clever and professional. One guy told me he always wore combat kit because passers-by thought he was ex-services. He claimed it was 'better than having a dog'.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/02/28/09/49A038A900000578-0-image-m-17_1519810833276.jpg
Flo Ardesi, 36, who used to work for the town’s council-funded homeless hostel and now manages Humanity Torquay, said he has seen professional begging gangs and knows how they operate.
He said they make sure they are in groups of four or five so they can easily intimate genuine homeless people to clear the area.
The 36-year-old said that on a good day in the summer the group could make up to £400.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5457441/Gangs-professional-beggars-driven-town.html#ixzz58jA5at2n
A controversial campaign by a Torquay businessmen has driven out a professional begging gang which had taken over the seaside town centre, of Devon, in recent years.
Pub and restaurant owner, Ashley Sims, 46, saw the deterioration of the harbour due to aggressive beggars and decided to take action - threatening to name and shame those falsely claiming to be homeless.
Ben Fone, a 29-year-old former mechanic, who has lived on the streets for the past 20 months after the end of his marriage and a mental breakdown, said: ‘I’m glad they’re gone. I think [professional begging] is disgusting. It makes the people who are really street homeless look bad.
‘I am not one of these con artists who come down on a Friday or Saturday night and make loads of money and then go home to a comfortable flat.
‘Because of what [professional beggars] do, people could walk past me and feed that person who has a home and benefits instead.’
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/02/28/09/49A336BA00000578-0-image-a-3_1519810129826.jpg
Businessman Ashley Sims is vowing to rid Britain's streets of professional beggars
Earnings in town centre shops had decreased by 60 per cent after aggressive beggars and drug users started intimidating shoppers, said Susie Colley, chairwoman of Torquay Chamber of Commerce.
Paramedics were also having to deal with beggars who had taken the drug Spice and fallen into zombie-like states several times a day, reported The Times.
Fed up of the disruption caused by professional beggars, Mr Sims took pictures of 17 beggars and showed them to staff at Humanity Torbay, a local homeless charity, as well a street pastor and a retired policeman.
Twelve of those photographed had recently been given help from the homeless charity with setting up a home and accessing benefits.
Mr Sims handed the images to the council so they could check if the beggars are in fact still on benefits.
Stickers and posters appeared in the town centre threatening street beggars that they would be photographed, and their pictures checked with the authorities to see if they were genuinely homeless, or professional beggars exploiting the plight of others.
The campaigners said it had been a huge success, and had led to a fall in the number of ambulance callouts to the town centre, possibly because there were fewer drug users posing as beggars.
Mr Sims says his campaign will now be rolled out nationally using a network of 270 photographers. He claims it will transform shopping centres bedevilled by the fake homeless.
He told MailOnline: 'I live in Torquay and I'm sick to death of people on benefits taking cash-in-hand jobs and begging in their spare time.
'They are very clever and professional. One guy told me he always wore combat kit because passers-by thought he was ex-services. He claimed it was 'better than having a dog'.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/newpix/2018/02/28/09/49A038A900000578-0-image-m-17_1519810833276.jpg
Flo Ardesi, 36, who used to work for the town’s council-funded homeless hostel and now manages Humanity Torquay, said he has seen professional begging gangs and knows how they operate.
He said they make sure they are in groups of four or five so they can easily intimate genuine homeless people to clear the area.
The 36-year-old said that on a good day in the summer the group could make up to £400.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5457441/Gangs-professional-beggars-driven-town.html#ixzz58jA5at2n