Watford charities have welcomed the town centre crackdown on "chuggers" saying the aggressive practice gave fundraising as a whole "a bad name".

The Watford New Hope Trust said the method, which sees workers try to convince passersby to sign up to direct debit payments to charities, was largely used by large national charities.

Watford Observer:

The homeless charity, which is based in Queen’s Road, said the workers were often on commission and did not have the interest of the charity at heart.

Wil Berdinner, fundraising and communications director at the trust, said: "New Hope has never been involved in chugging as a fundraising method, nor do we intend to.

"Many street fundraisers do not work directly for the charity they represent and some even work on a commission basis, so it is often the case that they don’t hold the core interest of the charity at heart. Over the years, this has given charity fundraising, as a whole, a bad name."

Watford Observer:

The comments come after politicians at Watford Borough Council voted to ban the chuggers, which is shorthand for charity muggers, from The Parade.

They will only be able to operate in High Street between Clarendon Road and King Street,

Carol Tunstall, Fundraising Manager at Watford Mencap added: "As a local charity, Watford Mencap aims to build an ongoing relationship with our supporters where both sides feel comfortable with our activities.  Therefore ‘chugging’ is not something we would support or want to be associated with."