Charitable clothing collections :
Prosecution of E&C Export Ltd

Headings on this page :

Prosecution - 21 May 2009, by Cardiff Council (South Wales)
E&C Export Ltd - a clothing collection company, based in Dagenham (Essex)
Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) - an NHS hospital charity in Leeds (Yorkshire)
Other collections by E&C Export Ltd - on behalf of 'Second Chance' charity
Related pages on the website
Larger image of a leaflet from E&C Export Ltd (referring to the CHSF charity) - distributed mid-2008

Note - In this page, no criticism is implied of the charity (CHSF).

Prosecution of E&C Export Ltd

The company was successfully prosecuted by Cardiff Council (South Wales) on 21 May 2009 for undertaking illegal [charitable] clothing collections in Cardiff on 28 January 2009. The company was fined £750 in Cardiff magistrates' court.

The investigation was carried out by the licensing section of the Council. We understand the prosecution was brought using the House to House Collections Act 1939.

For more on this prosecution, see the relevant page in the 'News archive' section of Cardiff Council's website, entitled: 'Company fined for illegal clothing collections' :

www.cardiff.gov.uk/content.asp?nav=2874,4202,4203&parent_directory_id=2865&id=8592&Language=

Extracts from the Council's page :

"The bags claimed that E&C Export Ltd gave financial support to the Children's Heart Surgery Fund based in Leeds. However the charity confirmed that due to past problems with E&C Export Ltd, it had disassociated itself from the company in November 2008." . . .

"Councillor Ed Bridges, Chair of the [Council's] Public Protection Committee, said: 'This case is particularly unpleasant as the company concerned misled residents into thinking they were giving to a charity. This is in effect stealing from genuine charities.' "

E&C Export Ltd (clothing collector)

Details from their website :

Postal address: E&C Export Ltd, PO Box 896, Dagenham, Essex RM9 9HN
Tel: 020 8517 1060
Website: www.ecexport.com

Details from Companies House website :

Name of company: E & C Export Ltd
Registered Office: 115 Fanshawe Crescent, Dagenham, Essex RM9 5DS
Date of incorporation: 17 December 2007
Company registration no: 06455034
Nature of Business (SIC(03)): 5142 - Wholesale of clothing and footwear

What happens to the clothing?

Mid-2008 clothing collection leaflet by E&C Export Ltd - referring to Children's Heart Surgery Fund
Mid-2008 leaflet by E&C Export Ltd
(see foot of page for a
larger image of this leaflet)

Clothing collected by the company in the UK is exported - especially to Eastern Europe. It's sold commercially.

Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF) - an NHS charity in Leeds

The collection bag distributed by E&C Export Ltd (which resulted in the prosecution described above) referred to the Children's Heart Surgery Fund (CHSF).

CHSF is a registered charity (no: 700753), based at the Yorkshire Heart Centre in Leeds General Infirmary (an NHS hospital). The charity is wholly genuine. Website: www.chsf.org.uk

As explained above, the charity disassociated itself from the company (E&C Export Ltd) in November 2008. This was two months before the illegal collection took place.

Other collections by E&C Export Ltd

As at October 2009, E&C Export Ltd were collecting on behalf of another charity - called 'Second Chance', based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. See the following page for more on this :

Collections by E&C Export Ltd on behalf of 'Second Chance' (charity)

Alas, the collections were unlicensed.

Charitable collections: Licensing - monitoring and enforcement
Prosecution of another collector :
Prosecution of bogus house-to-house charity collectors by South Northamptonshire Council Licensing Department
Charitable collection law :
The law on charitable house-to-house collections - eg licensing, enforcement, prosecution
A-Z list of some house-to-house clothing collectors
Clothing collections in the media
Pages in the 'Examples of collections' section of the drop-down menus at the top of each page.

Below: Larger image of a leaflet from E&C Export Ltd (referring to the CHSF charity) - distributed mid-2008

2008 clothing collection leaflet by E&C Export Ltd - referring to Children's Heart Surgery Fund

Charitable clothing collections :Prosecution of E&C Export Ltd