Persistent beggars in Winchester face a greater risk of being arrested under new police procedures.

Begging has been illegal for 180 years, but in the past, it was not a recordable offence. Sergeant Steve French is in charge of the city centre beat at Winchester police station.

He said they are now able to enter details of anyone found begging into their national computer. The data will inform officers of previous convictions if they are caught again.

"Officers patrolling the city centre beat will not tolerate begging and will actively move beggars on. Persistent offenders can expect to be arrested.

"If they say 'I've never done it before', and we check and found they've done it three times or so, then they would be arrested." He added that many beggars could be intimidating, and that over 85 per cent are thought to have alcohol or drug addictions.

Police are compiling a report for Winchester City Council on the possibility of outlawing drinking in public places. The council will make a decision later this year.

Sgt French added that they preferred to move beggars on, rather than make arrests, as they rarely had money to pay fines if convicted. As a result, Winchester police had only arrested a handful of people for begging within the last 12 months.

Graham Love of the Winchester City Centre Partnership has welcomed the new measures in dealing with beggars.

He hopes the changes will promote the partnership's "diverting giving" scheme. The programme encourages people to place money in designated boxes instead of giving to beggars.

The donations are shared equally between the Salvation Army, the Winchester Churches' Night Shelter, and the Trinity Centre, which provides daytime support. The scheme raised just over £5,000 last year.

* Diverted giving boxes are at the Tourist Information Centre in The Broadway, Mawson and Company in The Square, McDonald's in St George's Street, and the Brooks Centre. There are also boxes at Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, Boots and W H Smith, all in the High Street.