Chugger, n. a person who approaches passers-by in the street asking for donations or subscriptions to a charity.

In the last few years before I left London a new breed of fundraiser appeared on the streets of the capital. They would gather in small packs outside underground stations and on busy shopping streets. Wearing cheerfully coloured bibs and matching expressions they would try to stop you and convince you to give them your bank details; all in the name of charity, of course.

Nothing annoys busy London commuters more than anything that impedes their efforts to get home as quickly as possible. And so it shouldn’t have surprised anyone that these new fundraisers were generally disliked and quickly branded “chuggers” – a new word coined from the fusion of charity and mugger (muggers being street thieves, normally who threaten or attack you in order to get your valuables).

Over the last year chuggers have started appearing in the centre of Valencia. Even though I probably would have time to talk to them now, my London-honed instincts still force me to dodge them at all costs. I’m not sure what the Spanish public’s view on them is, but I think the reason why they’re so hated in the UK is that they annoy you while at the same time make you feel bad for being annoyed. Who never feels a twinge of guilt for not giving more to good causes?