'Chuggers' shunned as Britons try to dodge charity donations

Why did the man cross the road? Apparently, it was to give the charity collector a wide berth, according to a survey which reveals the lengths to which Britons will go to avoid giving money to fundraisers.

The poll shows that two-thirds of people will cross the street to avoid "chuggers" or charity muggers.

More than a quarter admitted to falsely having told a charity worker that they had already given money to their colleague. A similar proportion said they had told a Big Issue seller that they had already bought a copy of the magazine. Nearly half of all Britons admit to telling a street collector that they have no change and 7 per cent said they had haggled over the price of an item in a charity shop.

The poll of more than 2,000 people was carried out by the website Leap Anywhere, which encourages people to advertise charitable actions they want others to do or are willing to do themselves. However, the group's research shows that only one in three Britons had given their time to charity in the past 12 months.

Delving into the effects of the credit crunch on charitable tendencies, the survey found that nearly a third of Britons are giving less time and money to charity than a year ago. The survey found that the Northern Irish are the most charitable Britons – three-quarters of them gave either time or money to charity in the previous month.

Scotland came second, with 50 per cent, which was more than any English region. Just over one-third of Londoners had been charitable.