On the concourse of Waterloo station in London on Friday morning, poppy seller David Poynter, 45, was relishing the bumper demand. He had set up the stall at 6.30am and commuters were queueing to donate and support the fundraising campaign.
Poynter, a train driver, has volunteered each November for nearly 30 years and takes holiday to support the cause. He is so dedicated to the role that he regularly works a shift lasting 12 hours.
He says he volunteers for the military who have made the sacrifices and decisions that “luckily, we don’t have to”. He said: “I think the world of those people.”
Poynter, who lives in south-west London, is one of about 40,000 volunteers who work for the Royal British Legion in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, raising millions of pounds. The Scottish poppy appeal is operated separately by Poppyscotland, a member of the Royal British Legion group of charities.
There is a surge of goodwill from commuters and other travellers towards volunteers like Poynter, but last week a spate of reports claimed some sellers had been “intimidated, verbally abused and even punched”.
Like many sellers, Poynter seems bemused by the unfounded reports, and said there is huge public support for the poppy appeal. The Royal British Legion said the reports have been unhelpful.
Last Saturday, Johnny Mercer, the minister for veterans’ affairs, said protesters at London’s Charing Cross station had appeared to try to intimidate poppy sellers. The Daily Mail reported on Tuesday that a poppy seller at Edinburgh railway station had claimed he was “kicked and punched” after getting caught up in a pro-Palestine protest.
Poppy sellers, described as a “brilliant” and “stoic” bunch by the Royal British Legion, were said to be largely unperturbed, but there was a ripple of panic in some national newsrooms. By Thursday, the Sun led its front page with an article headlined: “Where have all the poppies gone?”
The Sun said busy London stations had been left without poppy sellers over “fears of pro-Palestinian protests”, and there were concerns “coffers will be hit”. MailOnline published a similar report on Thursday, claiming some sellers were “terrified to go out”, or were “forced to wear bodycams for protection”. The volunteers it claimed were forced to wear body cameras were not pictured in the report.
GB News, the rightwing news channel, reported that rail stations had seen “poppy sellers vanish”. It claimed they had disappeared after volunteers were “punched and pushed at train station hubs in a series of incidents”. It provided no evidence of these incidents.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak even intervened. He told the Sun: “I am appalled that some poppy sellers – many veterans who are the heart of our collective remembrance each year – have experienced intimidation and abuses when volunteering at train stations.”
The British Transport Police criticised “misleading” information in the media, and said there was no evidence of poppy sellers being targeted.
The Royal British Legion said there was no shortage of poppy sellers, with numbers up on last year, and poppy sales at all mainline stations. It said there had been no increase in reports about sellers being intimidated, abused or punched, and no volunteer had been asked by the charity to wear a body camera for their protection.
Andy Taylor-Whyte, interim director of the Poppy Appeal, said supporters received a warm response from the public, with no significant concerns about abuse or intimidation.
He said pro-Palestine protesters had been at Charing Cross last Saturday, which was the only incident he was aware of. He said: “It was a friendly sit-down. There was no intimidation. The volunteers didn’t feel threatened at all. And they continued to collect the following day.”
The alleged assault of a poppy seller in Edinburgh was investigated by the British Transport Police. Extensive inquiries found no evidence of an assault. It was reported a child may have caused minor injuries to a poppy seller’s foot.
British Transport Police said: “We are aware that misleading information has been circulating in the mainstream media, which has understandably led to those who sell poppies being fearful for their safety at train stations. We want to reiterate that we have no reason to believe that those who sell poppies are at any risk or being intentionally targeted.”
The sellers who were quoted in the press wearing body cameras were in fact Network Rail staff who were helping the Poppy Appeal. They wear body cameras because of their jobs on the railway network.
The Royal British Legion said none of its staff were required to wear body cameras; it would not issue such an instruction; and there were no concerning reports from volunteers who had been abused of were fearful of intimidation, compared with any previous year. Taylor-Whyte said: “We, of course, look after them and have been reassuring them.” He said there was no issue of locations not being covered that were covered last year, including mainline train stations in London.
Taylor-Whyte added: “We’ve got collectors at every mainline London station. We would love to be in more locations across the country, so we are always looking for more volunteers.” When asked about reports that some mainline stations did not have volunteers on site at all times last week, he said volunteers took breaks and had flexible hours, but there was no shortfall compared with previous years.
He said the appeal was aiming for £50m this year and he was delighted with public support. There had been a small increase in volunteer organisers and poppy sellers compared with last year, he said.
“We have more volunteers out this year and we are grateful there has been huge public support, even with the cost of living crisis,” he said. “We also grateful to our thousands of volunteers who get out there and help us do those collections.”
The Royal British Legion website has information for people wishing to volunteer.
Commuters buying poppies at Waterloo on Friday were all appreciative of the work done by Poynter and thousands of others like him.
Luke Ryan, 35, from Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, who works in transport technology, said: “I think it’s fantastic. We need people like him to do their bit.”
