​More enforcement needed says charity

Charity clothing collections in the UK are mostly unlicensed according to clothes collection charity Clothes Aid.

Michael Lomotey, its director, made the claims in Fundraising Magazine.

He said that more than 60% of all charity bag collections undertaken in the UK are being done so by unlicensed or “bogus operators”

Clothes Aid distributes proceeds of donated clothes to 12 chosen partner charities.

Lomotey suggests bogus and unlicensed collectors could be costing the sector more than £100m a year.

As recycled clothing rises in price, the problem has got worse. However charities complain regulators are not doing enough to clampdown on rogue operators, he said.

The British Heart Foundation has stated that its losses alone were as much as £3m a year while Clothes Aid said its charity partners were losing £1.1m a year in lost income.

“It’s been an issue for many years," Lomotey said. "There’s been problems with theft; problems with serious and organised networks of people stealing donations.

"We got so far with it, but there wasn’t enough clamping down. We took our eye off the ball, and what we’ve seen now is a bit of a resurgence.

“The crooks are coming back out of the woodwork, and do you know why? Because there’s not enough enforcement of the regulations.”