Poppy pair 'threatened by police'
Published Date:
02 November 2008
By Lesley Richardson
A POPPY seller has accused two police officers of threatening to ban the Royal British Legion if she did not stop going house-to-house during Halloween or after dark.
Jan Hinton, 51, has been a Royal British Legion collector in Weymouth, Dorset for more than a decade, raising hundreds for the charity.
She was out with poppy partner Charlotte Warren-Sinclaire, 16, when police stopped them last week.
The two officers were responding to a call from a worried resident who thought the Poppy Appeal was not carrying out door-to-door collections and feared the collectors were bogus.
Hinton said: "They said: 'We don't want you collecting after dark, do daytimes', and also: 'This is not a good idea because this is Halloween.'
"They said if we didn't take notice of what they were saying they would pull the plug on the Royal British Legion doing house-to-house collections."
Dorset Police denied banning poppy collectors and said they were supportive of the Poppy Appeal.
A police spokesman said: "The collectors were not accused of being bogus callers and they were not banned from collecting door-to-door for the Poppy Appeal."
The full article contains 200 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
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Last Updated:
01 November 2008 7:30 PM
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Source:
Scotland On Sunday
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Location:
Scotland