STREET collectors urging North-East well-wishers to help injured and homeless veterans are working for a private profit-making promotional company with an almost identical name to a genuine charity, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Trading standards officers are investigating the activities of street sellers working on behalf of Forgotten Hero's in towns and cities throughout the region.

They arrived in Darlington town centre earlier this month, selling £3 wristbands - costing pennies to produce - and claiming they were using the proceeds to fund their own home for veterans in Wales.

However, The Northern Echo can reveal that the street sellers operating on Darlington’s High Row – and in Durham and Sunderland recently – are not charity collectors but work for a promotional company headed by Blackpool men Peter James Walsh and Darren Ford.

The company shares an almost identical name with with a bona-fide charity - The Forgotten Heroes - which says it has had to field complaints from people who have confused the two.

While researching a separate article about charity collectors, The Northern Echo approached a representative from FH on Darlington's High Row.

Aware he was speaking to a journalist, the collector said organisation was not a charity but an “awareness raising” operation - an assertion seemingly kept from the majority of those witnessed buying wristbands.

When questioned further, the man attempted to grab the journalist’s notebook before claiming collectors were working to highlight the work of another charity – Alabare’s Homes for Veterans - with proceeds going towards that cause.

When an undercover reporter later approached a FH collector, he was told otherwise.

listen to ‘Joe Willis talk about Street seller’ on Audioboom

In a recorded conversation, the collector said: “Raising awareness of homeless veterans, we’re promoting our new home that’s been built in Wrexham, North Wales.

“It’s called Dada House and it’s been built by the public – at the moment, we’ve got three veterans in it that were homeless and we’ve got room for nine more.

“If you’re on holiday in this country and you see any veteran that’s homeless, pass our website on and we’ll take them in and look after them.”

The Northern Echo’s subsequent investigation found that the organisation do not operate any homes and allegedly made just three donations to Homes for Veterans in almost a year of fundraising activity.

Collectors – accused of using aggressive and persistent techniques – are sourced from Facebook without any checks beyond whether or not they have their own pedlars’ licence, which allows them to sell on the high street.

A series of complaints have dogged genuine charity The Forgotten Heroes, which does not conduct street collections and says it is contacted regularly by members of the public concerned about the aggressive tactics of FH.

Via the Companies Made Simple Ltd organisation, FH was registered with Companies House under the names of Peter Walsh and Darren Ford in August 2015.

Its initial registered address was the same as Mr Walsh’s in Blackpool but was later changed to The Pottery in Whitehaven, Cumbria.

Landlords of The Pottery said they were unaware of their address being used to register the business and claimed they had never heard of, or been in contact, with Mr Walsh or Mr Ford.

A spokeswoman said they had dealt with a third party, claiming to represent another charity, who had paid initial rent before disappearing for several months.

When confronted, Mr Walsh admitted he was running FH as a profitable business and claimed the similarity in names between his organisation and the bona-fide charity was a coincidence.

He said the third party in Whitehaven was the company’s ‘internet advisor’ and he was unaware of his disappearance.

Mr Walsh said donations of at least £7,000 had been made to Homes for Veterans (HfV), a claim denied by the charity which said it received three donations amounting to £4,000.

Mr Walsh refused to provide proof of any transactions but confessed to using the remainder of money raised on the streets to operate the business and as profit.

Saying the company had recently parted ways with HfV, he added: “No, £7,000 is not the limit of what we raise, we are a business, a promotional company. I can’t talk personally about our business, I can only talk about what we give to HfV.

“At the end of the day, we’re a promotional business and I don’t know any business in this country that’s give, give, give and not getting anything out of it themselves. We have to earn, sell and pay for travel and expenses.”

He said his team of sellers – recruited online - work across the country on a self-employed basis using pedlars’ licences and are expected to accord with each town’s regulations.

He said if sellers were happy to help, it was not his prerogative to make further checks beyond ascertaining that they have a licence.

He said he had been shocked by allegations of aggression and added: “There’s nothing I can say at the moment beyond the fact everything we’ve done has been done legally and above board.”

The activities of FH were reported to Durham Constabulary, whose spokeswoman said: “Officers responded to reports of suspicious activity on High Row in Darlington at 2pm  on Wednesday, June 8,  and attended in the company of Trading Standards and Licensing Officers from Darlington Borough Council. The matter has now been passed to Trading Standards for further investigation.”

Darlington Borough Council’s trading standards and licensing officers are working to further investigate the legitimacy of FH.

A spokesman for the Charity Commission said:  “Forgotten Hero’s is not a registered charity.  Whilst the vast majority of charitable appeals and collections are legitimate, fundraising fraud does occur - our advice is only to give to registered charities.

“Our message to the public is do not be put off giving to charities - they do really important work, helping those in the greatest need - but be vigilant and take steps to make sure you are giving safely to legitimate charity collectors.”

Reporter Joanna Morris explains how the story unfolded

I INITIALLY approached the ‘chuggers’ on Darlington’s High Row for a comment about a council crackdown on persistent charity collectors.

That afternoon, I’d heard story after story from passers-by who told me they went out of their way to avoid fundraisers, not entirely sure where their money would go and sick of being pestered.

Just one conversation with a street fundraiser, picked at random, would see the public’s lack of confidence in such tactics entirely justified.

The only people collecting money that day were Forgotten Hero’s, represented by jovial men in combat shorts and khaki T-shirts.

I wasn’t suspicious until I told them I was a journalist investigating charity collectors, at which point one representative admitted Forgotten Hero’s was not a registered charity.

He carefully pointed out the somewhat unique spelling of their name before asking if I’d be printing his comments and, told yes, attempted to grab my notebook.

I asked a colleague to follow up on my resulting suspicions by going out to hear – and record - the organisation’s spiel in full while I did some digging.

In the course of the investigation, I tracked down the business’ registration documents and found out all I could about the activities of the company before speaking to people at all organisations involved, engaging with the authorities and tracking down FH’s director, Peter Walsh.

Taking the credit from a worthy cause, FH told people that they ran their own homes, helping vulnerable veterans.

The homes they refer to belong to a completely separate charity, who may have received three donations from FH but have no official affiliation with them and do not work with them.

With their accounts not yet public, it is not currently possible to find out the entire truth behind the extent of FH’s donations to Homes for Veterans but FH’s director openly admits his business is run for profit and is not just “give, give, give”.

That’s something that will undoubtedly come as a surprise to the countless people who bought wristbands in Darlington that afternoon, thinking they were helping homeless veterans.

The Charity Commission's top ten tips on giving


1. Before giving, check the charity’s name and registration number against the online charity search tool 

2. Fundraisers require a licence from the local authority (or the Police in London) to collect in a public place. Check that they have this. If the collection is in a privately owned place, check that they have the owner’s permission.

3. When approached by collectors, check whether they are wearing a proper ID badge and that any collection tin is sealed.

4. If in doubt, ask the collector for more information - a genuine fundraiser should be happy to answer questions and explain more about the work of the charity.

5. Genuine fundraising materials should feature the charity’s name, registered name and a landline contact number. Be wary of those that list only a mobile number.

6. Make sure when you give to radio and television appeals that the process is secure. Ofcom lists the rules for radio and television charity appeals on its website

7. Take care when responding to emails or clicking links to a charity’s website to ensure that they are genuine. Instead, search online for your chosen charity to check you have the right web address. 

8. Carefully review collection bags for clothing and household goods to ascertain whether they are from a genuine charity.

9. After making these checks, if you think that a collection or appeal is not legitimate, report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 and inform the Charity Commission.

10. Don’t be pressurised to give to a collection immediately. If in any doubt, donate directly to charity.