Cold calling charity fundraisers accused of targeting vulnerable people for donations are being forced out of business by tougher rules and an increasingly hostile public attitude.

One of the largest telephone fundraisers in the country went bust last week amid a collapse in profits.

Pell & Bales, which was accused of bombarding elderly people with phone calls and disguising the fact its fundraisers were paid employees rather than volunteers, is to go into liquidation with the loss of 20 full-time jobs.

It blamed “the challenging market place” for its collapse, saying: “Following a period of intense media scrutiny and government measures to regulate the activities of telephone donation agencies, the management team of Pell & Bales have been forced by creditors, to place the company into liquidation.”

It is the latest in a growing number of fundraising agencies to go to the wall as a result of stricter rules and an increasingly hostile public attitude to their work.

Around 10 telephone fundraisers have gone into liquidation in the past 12 months, including GoGen, whose clients included the British Red Cross, Macmillan Cancer Support and the NSPCC.