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Popular fundraiser banned from regular pitch
A FUNDRAISER who racked up £4,000 a year in donations from shoppers has been banned from his regular Friday pitch.
Bertie Doy, of Blakes Field, Didcot, hung up his collecting tin a month ago after managers at Sainsbury's, in the Orchard Centre, said he could no longer stand outside the shop every Friday morning.
They said all charity collectors must formally apply for permission to collect outside the store and join a rota for the peak time slots.
The 65-year-old collected between £50 and £70 a week in donations and sold the Salvation Army's War Cry newspaper at the spot since 2005.
He said: "They asked me to submit times I wanted to stand there because they have other people who want to collect. They didn't want me to do it on Friday mornings, but all the people I have met go shopping at those times. I built up a relationship with them.
"So I thought I would just save a fuss and retire. I'm not about causing stress or causing problems. It wasn't about the money, I wanted to spread the message about the gospel."
Capt Ray Charlton, commanding officer of the Salvation Army, in Abingdon, where Mr Doy sent the money, said he was disappointed with the decision.
He said: "We didn't realise he had raised so much. We thought he'd be allowed to stay because he's been there for a long time. He's got a very good rapport with the staff and a lot of his regulars are not happy about it. He was quite a character and everyone liked him.
"Sainsbury's offered us an alternative of food parcels instead and give all their nearly out-of-date food to single mums and the like, but we didn't think that was a substitute for meeting the public and talking to them about Jesus and the gospels."
A Sainsbury's spokesman said Friday was a popular time for charities to collect money and to avoid confusion and disruption, the store had decided to let one charity collect at a time.
She said: "To ensure fairness and so that many charities can benefit from the generosity of our customers, we have instigated a rota for a range of charities to collect money at the store. We have a duty of care to our customers to ensure the charities' authenticity and so we ask collectors to put a request in writing on their charity's headed paper, complete with their charity number.
"In the spirit of fairness, security and even handedness, he was asked to put a request in writing to the store to enable him to continue to collect for his charity, but not every Friday for the reasons explained. As soon as we receive his letter on Salvation Army paper we will make sure he and the charity can start collecting again as well as the other charities we support."
1:27pm Tuesday 6th May 2008
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