Doorstoppers
Warning over appeal for developing countries
A COMPANY advertising that it provides used clothes and other items for needy people in developing countries has targeted homes in the region.
Orellana Limited, which was struck off the Companies House register in June, posted leaflets through letterboxes in the Foggy Furze area of Hartlepool on Friday.
The leaflets ask people to leave unwanted clothing outside their properties for collection yesterday morning.
A spokesman for Hartlepool Council's trading standards team said: "We don't think this company is actually breaking any trading standards laws, as it is not claiming to be a charity.
"However, we do appreciate that some people may feel they have been misled into donating unwanted clothing to what they thought was a charity.
"Our advice to anyone who receives a similar leaflet is to ask themselves the following three questions.
"Is the word charity mentioned anywhere? If not, the money raised may not be going to a good cause.
"Are any contact details provided, such as a permanent telephone number or a building address? If not, think why the company would not want to give this information.
"Is a registered charity number given? Non-charitable collectors will often print numbers on their leaflets that may give an impression of being official. If the number is not called a charity number, it means very little."
A spokesman for the British Charity Commission said: "We would advise people to be on guard against clothing collectors such as Orellana Limited, who give the impression of being charities, when in fact they are profit-making companies.
"If in any doubt, take second hand goods to a local charity shop."
10:33am Tuesday 21st November 2006
Print 
Email this
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
