Big Issue vendors

SIR – Harriet Sergeant’s article (“The homeless are not all helpless victims – and their needs are more complex than we admit”, Comment, February 28) suggests that “Roma working for criminal gangs” have “transformed The Big Issue, once a lifeline, into a business” that supposedly “loads the magazine up in bulk to sell on a large-scale basis”.

The Big Issue exists to offer people facing poverty the means to earn a legitimate income. Far from facilitating criminal activity, The Big Issue therefore provides a clear alternative. Our vendors do indeed come from a variety of backgrounds and face a range of complex problems, but they are all vulnerable, and all are experiencing the effects of poverty.

Rather than being open to manipulation, The Big Issue is a tightly run operation designed to benefit those in need. We require all our vendors to adhere to a vendor agreement, which stipulates how they must behave while selling the magazine, and we respond promptly and decisively to any suggestion of misconduct. Vendors receive rigorous training if needed, are allocated a fixed pitch from which to vend, and buy each magazine upfront for £1.25, selling it on to a customer for £2.50.

We have always worked with those whom others shun, and will continue to do so. As Harriet Sergeant says, rough sleeping has almost doubled since 2010. It’s time to get to work. Peter Bird

Distribution director, The Big Issue London N4