Almost 9 months have passed since the last post. I am aware that the sellers had returned to Sainsburys but seemingly there have been no further problems . Until last night, that is, at Forest Hill station, at around 8.30pm where a woman wearing a Vendors badge and carrying the magazines, actively and aggressively pursued alighting passengers from a train for money and hurled verbal abuse at anyone who ignored her. She even tried to block the path of people leaving the station, me included. She then went up to two people at the cashpoint and hassled them for money. I believe the woman was one of the ones who are usually outside Sainsburys, as was the man who was standing nearby on the platform.

I would rather not have to write further on this matter but the behaviour last night was unacceptable .Given that they have now broken almost every rule in their BI (aggression, swearing, young children on patch) code of conduct I would hope that the Big Issue removes the badges of these people and offers the vending opportunity to someone who does not hassle the general public. I can't even see how their 'marketing approach' gets them any sales as people surely just want to avoid them.

I have no issue with the Big Issue; I have supported their Vendors for years and buy the magazine regularly from Vendors in central London. Its just I think time for the BI management to take some responsibility for the behaviour of the vendors and either train them to adhere to the code of conduct, train them in basic marketing skills, or (preferably) replace them, as judging by last night, things have really now got out of control.

Attached is a link to the BI Code of Conduct.
http://www.bigissue.com/downloads/user/c...onduct.pdf