Fake beggars are exploiting the British public - and the real homeless
There is no doubt that it is heartbreaking, especially when the weather is this harsh, to see a person sleeping rough, bundled up in layers of blankets among cigarette butts and street debris.
Stop to speak to these poor souls and you'll discover tales of neglect and misfortune, often addiction, sometimes abuse. Offer them a cup of hot soup or a coffee and they will gladly accept. Quickly, you see the human being behind the suffering.
There is no crime in being poor or homeless. But lately, a new and different breed has become visible on the streets of Britain: the professional beggar. Criminals who prey on the public's natural desire to help them by giving all the appearance of being homeless and destitute — while they are actually nothing of the kind.
Their victims are not only the tourists and commuters who fall for their pitiful patter; but also the real homeless, who suffer because the fake beggars sap the goodwill of passers-by.
Popular tourist destinations including Cambridge, London, Windsor and Ely — where recent attempts by the authorities to rid the streets of them have made national headlines — are plagued by these charlatans.
Anyone who dares confront the problem — like the two local business owners in Torquay who exposed those posing as beggars by naming and shaming them on social media — risks getting it in the neck from charities with vested interests and from hard-line Left-wingers.
For these supposed moral guardians, the reality of the situation is irrelevant — just as long as they can parade their concern and highlight the evils of 'austerity Britain' and a heartless Conservative government that doesn't care.
Yet the facts appear indisputable: of the 17 'homeless' identified in Torquay, just two — two! — turned out to be genuine.
And, as Angela Parmenter, Ely's frustrated housing manager, put it, these people don't want her council's support because 'it is possible to earn substantial amounts of money on the streets'.
Of course, organised gangs of beggars — many from Albania or Romania — have long been a problem in poorer European countries such as Italy, Portugal and Greece. There, women with babes in arms will follow you in the street, harass customers in restaurants, or thrust worthless trinkets into your hand, demanding money in exchange.
Often they are bound up in other criminal activities, such as prostitution and drug dealing.
While I don't condone such behaviour, on one level I can at least understand it: such countries have only very basic levels of healthcare, while proper jobs are hard to come by and charities are hopelessly oversubscribed.
Stop to speak to these poor souls and you'll discover tales of neglect and misfortune, often addiction, sometimes abuse. Offer them a cup of hot soup or a coffee and they will gladly accept. Quickly, you see the human being behind the suffering.
There is no crime in being poor or homeless. But lately, a new and different breed has become visible on the streets of Britain: the professional beggar. Criminals who prey on the public's natural desire to help them by giving all the appearance of being homeless and destitute — while they are actually nothing of the kind.
Their victims are not only the tourists and commuters who fall for their pitiful patter; but also the real homeless, who suffer because the fake beggars sap the goodwill of passers-by.
Popular tourist destinations including Cambridge, London, Windsor and Ely — where recent attempts by the authorities to rid the streets of them have made national headlines — are plagued by these charlatans.
Anyone who dares confront the problem — like the two local business owners in Torquay who exposed those posing as beggars by naming and shaming them on social media — risks getting it in the neck from charities with vested interests and from hard-line Left-wingers.
For these supposed moral guardians, the reality of the situation is irrelevant — just as long as they can parade their concern and highlight the evils of 'austerity Britain' and a heartless Conservative government that doesn't care.
Yet the facts appear indisputable: of the 17 'homeless' identified in Torquay, just two — two! — turned out to be genuine.
And, as Angela Parmenter, Ely's frustrated housing manager, put it, these people don't want her council's support because 'it is possible to earn substantial amounts of money on the streets'.
Of course, organised gangs of beggars — many from Albania or Romania — have long been a problem in poorer European countries such as Italy, Portugal and Greece. There, women with babes in arms will follow you in the street, harass customers in restaurants, or thrust worthless trinkets into your hand, demanding money in exchange.
Often they are bound up in other criminal activities, such as prostitution and drug dealing.
While I don't condone such behaviour, on one level I can at least understand it: such countries have only very basic levels of healthcare, while proper jobs are hard to come by and charities are hopelessly oversubscribed.
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But in Britain this is simply not the case. We have a generous welfare system, a health service whose workers flog themselves half to death in their dedication to help those in need and a well-funded, highly organised charity sector.
We also happen to be very generous to those in need. Which is probably why so many professional beggars have come here from Europe: to them we are a soft-hearted nation whose streets are paved with gold.
We are sops, easy touches and naive trusting mugs like my daughter who, when she started secondary school and began travelling alone by train, was thoroughly taken in by a 'homeless' person at Victoria station.
Like any child would, she believed this woman. More than once she gave her the remainder of her lunch money, until one day she happened to follow her out of the station and saw her emptying her pockets into a rucksack — before climbing into a BMW.
So let's not be fools about this. Genuine homelessness is a tragedy that deserves all our attention. But it should not blind us to the unsavoury reality that for every individual who needs help, there are sadly all too many prepared to exploit their suffering — and our good nature.
We also happen to be very generous to those in need. Which is probably why so many professional beggars have come here from Europe: to them we are a soft-hearted nation whose streets are paved with gold.
We are sops, easy touches and naive trusting mugs like my daughter who, when she started secondary school and began travelling alone by train, was thoroughly taken in by a 'homeless' person at Victoria station.
Like any child would, she believed this woman. More than once she gave her the remainder of her lunch money, until one day she happened to follow her out of the station and saw her emptying her pockets into a rucksack — before climbing into a BMW.
So let's not be fools about this. Genuine homelessness is a tragedy that deserves all our attention. But it should not blind us to the unsavoury reality that for every individual who needs help, there are sadly all too many prepared to exploit their suffering — and our good nature.