A charity issuing clothing collection bags on Tayside labelled “north east” has raised eyebrows because the items are actually bound for England.
Coping With Cancer North East has been putting collection bags through the doors of people across Scotland.
However, some people in Tayside have raised concerns because they thought they were donating to charities in the local area as there is no reference to where the clothes go on the packaging.
A spokesperson for the organisation, which is based in Newcastle, confirmed it has distributed the bags to homes in Dundee, Angus and Perth, with the help of the company Unicare.
Ian McRae, 68, who lives in Angus, initially raised concerns about the organisation after he took issue with the way the bags are labelled.
He said: “Their collection bags are carefully marked as being from Coping with Cancer North East, which gives the impression that they are a local charity in the north-east of Scotland.
“While I have no doubt they do sterling work, I find it strange that a charity working purely in the north east of England should be collecting in the north east of Scotland.
“Especially as the message on their collecting bags make no reference to where they work, but the logo of Coping with Cancer North East is prominently displayed, giving the impression it is a local charity in this area.
“There is no mention of the charity even being registered here in Scotland.”
Lesley Orchard, the fundraising organiser, defended the charity and stated they do work with people in Scotland, and they planned to correct the packaging.
She said: “When we have new bags printed we will make sure they say north east of England so there should be no confusion in the future.
“We are not a charity registered in Scotland. However, we are allowed to collect in Scotland and the Scottish Charity Commission has knowledge of this.
“They have a copy of our collection bags, which state that we are registered in England.
“We do have a telephone counselling service using trained counsellors and this is available to the Scottish cancer community and is indeed used by them.
“We are also able to provide information and peer support, which is not restricted to any one geographical location.”
A spokesperson for Unicare Limited said: “It is a choice if you choose to donate to the charities. We give bags from the Coping with Cancer North East charity to homes across the country, not just in the north-east of England.”