BEGGARS can be choosers: so-called professional beggars at least. Some of them travel to York from outside the city because they know this is a patch that pays.

Residents and tourists provide rich pickings for the dog-and-blanket brigade.

So, while begging is a problem in almost every British town, it is particularly prevalent here. Almost every street in the city centre has at least one figure huddled in a doorway asking for money.

Among this group are genuinely homeless people. They are not making a lifestyle choice but are on the streets because they have nowhere else to go. But they are the minority, according to York police.

It is impossible for us to distinguish between people begging because they have to and people begging because they want to. Even the courts struggle to make that distinction.

That is about to change. Under David Blunkett's White Paper on anti-social behaviour, anyone convicted for begging would receive a criminal record for the first time.

This will allow the courts to identify repeat beggars and deal with them with anti-social behaviour orders.

York and Selby police commander John Lacy has welcomed the move. He is clearly frustrated with the influx of outside beggars.

A key test for the legislation will be if it stops what Mr Lacy calls "the revolving door", which sees convicted beggars return to the streets straight after their court appearance to start begging for the money to pay off their fine.

Any new law must offer persistent beggars with drug or alcohol problems help to overcome their addictions. If they spurn such an offer, or subsequently flout recovery programmes, or go back to begging, then the tougher penalties should be imposed.

In the meantime, we must not allow the professional beggars to harden our attitudes to cases of real hardship. If the new law allows us to direct our compassion where it is truly deserved, then it can be judged a success.

Updated: 10:34 Wednesday, March 12, 2003