A new bid has been launched to drive aggressive charity collectors from a city's streets.

Teams of fund-raisers, dubbed chuggers or charity muggers, target shoppers in busy areas such as the North Laine in Brighton and George Street in Hove.

Business leaders have received hundreds of complaints from people forced to run the gauntlet of six or more chuggers lying in wait within a few metres of each other.

They try to persuade people to make direct debit contributions of up to £350 over five years to charitable causes.

Now business leaders are hitting back by urging shop and business owners to sign up to a new initiative which encourages staff to give direct to charities through their wages.

Soozie Campbell, manager of the City Centre Business Forum, believes the scheme will help reduce the number of chuggers, who can be paid up to £100 a day, plaguing shoppers.

She said: "We do not want to drive away the traditional tin shakers who collect for charity."

The Payroll Giving Grants programme was launched earlier this year and rewards employers with fewer than 500 staff who set up company donation schemes.

It enables employees to give direct to charity from their wages and attracts tax relief of up to 40 per cent on each donation.

The scheme also matches the first £10 donated by each employee every month for the first six months, providing an additional income boost for charities.

Ms Campbell said: "If enough organisations set up Payroll Giving Grants, charities will become less dependent on agencies who supply the face-to-face direct debit chuggers.

"These agencies take up to 90 per cent of the donation in the first year so the charities would also benefit significantly from direct giving."

In Brighton and Hove last year, more than 4,000 people were persuaded by chuggers to sign up for direct debit donations to one of 20 charities.

David Lepper, MP for Brighton Pavilion, presented a petition from city traders to the Speaker of the House of Commons in March.

It followed the presentation of a 200 signature petition to Brighton and Hove City Council for action to curb the chuggers.

The payroll initiative was backed by traders whose businesses have been hit by squads of chuggers descending on city centre shopping areas.

Pat Mernagh, of the North Laine Traders' Association who owns the Animal House in Bond Street, welcomed the move. She said: "In principle I think it is a good idea but it would need more consultation about how it would work."

Chris Lambert of Heebie Jeebies restaurant in George Street, Hove, also welcomed the scheme.

He said: "I definitely think it is a good idea because we have had a lot of problems with chuggers in George Street."