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Posters at Bath Spa Railway Station advise against giving to beggers

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PCSO Liam Thomas with Samantha Grief, area service broker at The Big Issue Foundation, George Lewis from Bath Spa train station, Big Issue vendor Istvan Kakas and Sergeant Mark Harris PICTURE: Artur Lesniak

Posters warning people to stop giving money to Bath's beggars have gone up at Bath Spa Railway Station, one of the city's hot spots for begging.

The Your Kindness Can Kill poster and leaflet initiative aims to persuade people to give to city charities which help homeless people rather than handing over cash to beggars. It launched in May and highlights the danger of giving money directly to people on the streets, who may spend this on drugs and alcohol.

The posters at Bath Spa Railway Station are part of a new push to raise further awareness of the campaign before the Christmas holidays.

One alternative to begging is to sell the Big Issue.

Big Issue seller Istvan Kakas sells magazines on Halfpenny Bridge, just behind the station, and is studying for an NVQ in sales and service at the City of Bath College. He said his sales have been affected by people begging on the bridge, who are sometimes physically or verbally abusive towards him.

He said: "In Bath it's impossible to go hungry. Before 5pm, before the sandwich shops close, they give out food for free. It's absolutely frustrating when people are begging for alcohol or cocaine or something like that. It's not right because anyone can do this job."

According to Mr Kakas, a young man who was well known to the police and struggled with alcoholism died near the railway bridge a month ago.

Samantha Grief, area service broker for the Big Issue in the Bath and Bristol area, said: "Sadly it's an illustration of the point of this campaign. The campaign is to help people going down that route do something positive like selling the Big Issue instead. We want to build on the success of the launch in May - for the campaign to work we need to keep reminding people.

"This area has become a hot spot for people begging and for Ishvan who's trying to make a living here, that's really difficult. Every time he goes to the police station, he has to go and report it, he loses selling time."

The campaign is supported by organisations including Julian House and the Genesis Trust, as well as Avon and Somerset Police.

Sergeant Mark Harris, of the British Transport Police, said: "If we see people approaching the beggars we offer advice from the campaign. Most people are very respectful and thank us for point it out. We try not to take people to court unless we absolutely need to."