By Eve Noon

TWO DUNDEE charities said last night they felt unfairly treated after a rival Aberdeen group on a BBC TV programme were allowed to bypass strict competition guidelines and scoop a near half-million pound cash boost.

As part of a joint venture between the Big Lottery Fund and BBC Scotland, three over-50s charities from the north-east took part in a BBC2 show to compete for funding for their project. Primetime was broadcast on Monday night and the public were given the chance to vote for which of the three projects would get the funding.

Taking part in the show were The Grey Lodge Settlement’s project, Volunteering in Partnership, Dundee-based Violence Is Preventable and Aberdeen initiative Seize The Day.

Seize The Day, which aims to support people who have recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, will be announced as the winners of £473,258 on this Monday’s show.

However, The Courier can reveal that the first transmission was very close to not being aired after an Email suggesting the charity Alzheimer Scotland had broken the rules was forwarded to the BBC.

The Email was sent out by Alzheimer Scotland’s marketing team at the start of this month, encouraging people to vote for the Aberdeen project.

BBC Scotland had told all the competing charities in May that, to ensure the “integrity” of the vote, “nominees should not themselves, or encourage anyone else to, unfairly manipulate or rig any voting procedure.”

“You, or anyone on your behalf, are not permitted to engage and/or conduct any professional and/or paid-for marketing and/or advertising to gain support for you on the show,” said the BBC.

These rules were reiterated to the charities in further correspondence on July 16, after filming had been completed.

The co-ordinator of Violence Is Preventable, Laurie Matthew, contacted the BBC after she was sent a copy of Alzheimer Scotland’s Email plea.

Laurie said, “I saw the Email after someone I know received it—she only got a copy of it because she had been in touch with Alzheimer Scotland for advice about the condition earlier this year.

“She must have been put on their mailing list. But I also know there were schools that got sent the Email—I think it was probably sent Scotland wide. I contacted the BBC immediately because I knew this was against the rules—it’s not fair.”

It was stated in the BBC guidelines that any breach of the rules could result in disqualification. Instead the BBC spoke to both of the Dundee-based charities and it was decided that the broadcast would go ahead.

Alzheimer Scotland was instructed to send out another Email to the same mailing list informing people the original Email was sent in error and all groups should be given equal consideration.

Laurie added, “I just think the situation could have been handled a lot better by the BBC, especially because the BBC has had their fingers burnt before with competition vote rigging. All the second Email did was give Seize The Day more publicity.”

The Dundee-based charities were disappointed that the BBC put the onus upon them to decide whether the show was to be broadcast following the breach of rules.

Alan Duncan, co-ordinator of Volunteering In Partnership, said, “When the BBC contacted me about the situation they explained the decision was being put down to both us and Violence Is Preventable whether the programme should be pulled or not.

“Neither of us wanted to be responsible for pulling the show after the amount of work we have all put in preparing for it—it would have let people down. It should have been left as the BBC’s decision.

“Even if Alzheimer Scotland sent out the Email without realising, it is still an open breach of the contract we all agreed to with the BBC. We want people to know this has happened so that it doesn’t happen to any other small charities.”

A BBC Scotland spokesman, “The BBC looked closely at the action taken by Alzheimer Scotland and concluded that they had not broken the rules of the competition.

“In addition, the votes were extensively checked by an independent verifier.

“We consulted fully with the two other groups involved and both gave us their assurance that they wanted the competition to go ahead and that they would accept the outcome of the public vote.”