Army veteran banned from selling poppies in shopping centre over health and safety rules

Published 04th Nov 2009

An army veteran in full military garb was told to stop selling poppies at a shopping centre - because he wouldn't undergo a risk assessment.

Jean Reno, who fought in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, was selling the poppies at a shopping centre when he was stopped by a security guard.

The 36-year-old was asked if he had permission to sell the plastic flowers. But when he refused to fill in a permission slip, which included a risk assessment, the guard asked him to leave the building.

Mr Reno raised more than £1,500 for the Royal British Legion's poppy appeal by selling poppies at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth last year.

This year he managed just £250 before being told to leave.

Mr Reno said today: 'I didn't require a risk assessment when I was sent to Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Afghanistan, or Iraq.

'But I require one to stand on Gunwharf Quays property to sell poppies. I'm utterly disgusted.'

The former artillery regiment soldier left the army in 2007 after suffering serious brain injuries in a road accident.

On his discharge from the forces he was helped into a new flat by service charities, and has been collecting for the poppy appeal out of gratitude.

'I started working for the first time last year and spent a week at Gunwharf. I had little interference or hindrance from the on-site security and raised over £1,500.

'But this year I had only been there for an hour when the man came up to me and asked if I had permission to be here.

'I don't normally make a habit of leaving my house wearing my regimental blazer with medals on my chest, a box full of poppies and a collection tin, so I thought it was obvious that I had permission.

'I said I had but he said there was already one gentleman selling poppies, and because he had done the risk assessment he was the only one allowed to sell in Gunwharf Quays.'

Today shopping centre director Peter Emery said the incident was a regrettable misunderstanding.

'Unfortunately Mr Reno fell foul of our own system to prevent bogus charity sellers,' he said.

'We were given a list from the Royal British Legion of the people who would be collecting for them this year.

'But Mr Reno was not on it. We approached him to try and make him official and get him on the list but he took offence.

It is regrettable that it came to this but Mr Reno has now signed the form and we are happy to have him back selling poppies on the site. We fully support the poppy appeal.'

Mr Reno's argument is one of a spate of controversies involving poppy sellers.

One county council, Derbyshire, has banned poppy collection boxes from its libraries on the grounds that it would not 'favour particular charities at the expense of others.'

Royal British Legion collectors have also been angered by rules that prevent them from shaking tins to encourage donations. The Legion has been reminding its collectors of the curbs on their behaviour.

Charity laws say that on private land - such as shopping malls, railway stations or council-run libraries - the decison to allow collections and the regulation of the behaviour of collectors is a matter for the landowner.

Laws governing street collections are more complex and are currently in the throes of reform.

Collectors are regulated under the Police, Factories etc (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1916, which says local councils should set their own rules for charity fundraising on the street.

This bars 'inconvenience or annoyance to another person' - hence the ban on aggressive tin-rattling.

However councils are themselves constrained by the 1974 Charitable Collections (Transitional Provisions) Order, which says ministers must approve rules set by local councils to prevent absurd local regulation. Cabinet Office minister Tessa Jowell is at present in charge of approving local rules.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: 'We expect local authorities to take a common sense approach. To over-interpret the rules would be absurd.'

Whitehall believes tin-rattling can cause annoyance if it is done aggressively or if people are approached persistently for money in residential streets rather than busy town centres.

Reforms are under way thanks to the Charities Act 2006. This proposes a system under which a charity wishing to collect money would have to apply to the Charity Commission for a certificate, which would confirm its status as a proper charity. It would then go to the local council for a permit to collect at a particular time and place.

The new law also says ministers may regulate to stop annoyance by collectors. Ministers will be advised by the Charity Commission.

The new system is not yet in force, and the Charity Commission, which was set up by the 2006 Act, had no role in drawing up the existing rules.

Cabinet Office officials are currently looking at the detail of how the new system will work and a consultation is likely next year.

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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