The chairman of the Bristol Royal British Legion has said the theft of collection boxes is a sad fact of modern life, but it will not stop members shaking their tins ahead of Remembrance Day.

Roger Duddridge told the Evening Post that members are advised to install tins in secure locations so that there is less chance of them being targeted by thieves.

Despite concerns about collection boxes, the chairman said that during last year's poppy appeal about six to eight tins were stolen from the 500 around the city.

Mr Duddridge, 72, was speaking after it had emerged that a Bristol car hire outlet had been reticent to receive a box of the flowers because they had been targeted by thieves.

Budget in Fairfax Street had asked for their tin to be removed from their branch because charity collection tins had been swiped from their counter in the past.

But when the company was contacted by the Evening Post, they made an about turn and asked Mr Duddridge to return the tin.

A spokeswoman for the car rental company's headquarters said staff in Bristol had taken the initial decision to hand the poppies back to the Royal British Legion because there had been a problem with people walking into the office and taking items off the counter in the past.

The annual poppy appeal was launched in the city on Wednesday when Britain's last surviving Tommy, Harry Patch, attended a service onboard the frigate HMS Somerset in Avonmouth.

Mr Duddridge, 72, received a call from Budget while he was at the ceremony and returned yesterday to pick up the poppies, but within hours staff had called him back to the branch again.

The annual poppy appeal helps raise funds to support wounded troops and the families of those that have lost their lives in conflict, with about 30 per cent of the people they are currently helping being in the 35 to 45 age group.

Mr Duddridge, of Mangotsfield, said: "It is one of those things unfortunately now, and I don't know how you overcome it.

"More and more people are saying they are scared to go out on their own and I wouldn't particularly like to stand on a street corner on my own trying to sell poppies with about £20 in my tin.

"This is why we try to get poppies into secure locations, in buildings and supermarkets where there is less chance of them being stolen.

"Last year, one was taken from an insurance company when one girl distracted the security guard while the other stole the tin.

"It was caught on CCTV and the police caught them, but they told us they were known drug users and we didn't want to press charges.

Mr Duddridge said one tin has already been found discarded, but they are not sure where it had been stolen from, or whether it was from last year's appeal.

"But there is the other side of the coin", he said.

"When I was delivering poppy tins the other day I stopped in the fish market and there were a couple of teenagers there and they asked if I was collecting and each of them put pounds in the tins."