Beggars on Broad Street found to be ‘fake’

Fake beggars are earning up to £800 a day during the busiest seasons.

Mike Olley, the manager of Broad Street, has said that fake beggars can make up to £800 a day during busy periods such as Christmas or the weekends, earning them up to £75,000 a year as no tax or National Insurance has to be paid.

Broad Street has been found as a popular destination for the fakers with many drunk students in the area handing out change on a regular basis.

The most lucrative spot is said to be by the Sainsbury’s cash point.

Broad Street is a hot-spot

Mr Olley has said that the beggars are “confidence tricksters. They pretend to be homeless, they sit there with their dogs holding their hand out or a cup.

“Gullible but kindhearted members of the public feel obliged to give them money.”

The personas adopted by the tricksters range from a stranded soldier in need of money to return to his barracks, to a broken down motorist needing cash for petrol.

Olley continued and said that these people should be arrested, so that adequate pastoral care can be given to those who genuinely need it.

To separate the tricksters from the people truly in need, he suggests donating to homeless charities rather than street beggars: “I would say the only way that you can guarantee help for vulnerable people is to support homeless organisations within the West Midlands.”