Thieves target CHAS charity tin

Aug 13 2010 by Katy Gordon, Strathearn Herald

Thieves target CHAS charity tin

A CRIEFF worker has hit out at sick thieves who stole a charity bottle from a shop in the town.

And Joyce Carnegie, who works in the Scottish and Southern Energy shop in Hill Street, is warning other traders to keep an eye on people looking to make off with the donations after the thieves took the box, which was raising money for Children’s Hospice Assocation Scotland.

She explained: “I noticed it was missing last Friday but needed to check with my colleagues before I reported it in case someone had moved it or CHAS had collected it.”

The box sat on the counter by the till and could have contained around £30 as it was due to be emptied.

She added: “When I phoned the theft in to our security team they were disgusted.

“The thieves obviously targeted the money box. I think these people are the lowest of the low taking from a children’s charity.

“We’ve never had anything like this happen before but when I told the CHAS representative, she said there had been a spate of similar thefts.”

Nothing else was taken and the thieves would have had to bypass a lot of small electrical items to get to the collection tin, so Joyce deduced that they were specifically looking for the box, which wasn’t secured to the counter.

Roslyn Neely, director of fundraising and communications at CHAS, said: “CHAS is saddened to hear the news that a collecting can was recently stolen from Crieff.

“It costs us over £6 million each year to run our vital hospice services and CHAS relies on the generosity of the Scottish public to raise this money.

“Our collecting cans provide a significant amount of income for us each year, and we are shocked to hear that someone would steal money that would directly benefit a child with a life-shortening condition and their family.”

The charity is one that Scottish and Southern have supported for a long time and not just through collection boxes.

Tayside Police confirmed that they will be looking into the incident and reminded shop staff to remain vigilant.