Charity fund raisers are developing their own code of conduct to prevent consumers having to walk though several groups of sellers while out shopping.

The move is in response to a sharp rise in complaints about the way fund raisers currently operate, the AD said on Monday.

Sector organisation Direct Dialogue Donateurwerving Nederland (DDDN) is working out a system to spread sellers and fund raisers throughout city centres by using fixed locations and a maximum of three people per spot.

‘Too many sellers in one place benefits no-one,’ DDDN director Henk Doktor told the AD. ‘The shops are annoyed, shoppers are annoyed. We just get in each other’s way.’

Councils

Doktor says he is in talks with The Hague, Rotterdam and Zwolle city councils to win official backing for the scheme and hopes they will agree to use street wardens to police the approved locations and make sure the rules are being kept.

The DDDN system does not include commercial street sellers who promote energy firms and newspapers. However, councils could also set up fixed points for them to operate Doktor said.

DDDN claims to represent 90% of street-based charity fund raisers.