Refugees' charity in Shrewsbury 'can no longer accept donations' due to lack of space or help for deliveries

Amanda Jones, who runs the Shrewsbury-based Shropshire Supports Refugees (SSR), said the charity was reluctantly making the call, with donations currently piling up in the corridors of its base.

SSR has been an invaluable source of help for refugees in the county, providing vital clothing to people staying in the county's hotels, or at Nesscliffe Army Base.

Ms Jones explained that the charity does not have enough volunteers to sort the donations, space to store them, or vans or drivers to deliver them.

Ms Jones, who runs the charity, said that delivery of items had largely fallen on her shoulders for the past couple of years, and that she was no longer able to continue working every day of the week.

She said: "I can't do that anymore, I have just reached my capacity.

"If someone is able to give us a big venue like we have had before to store stuff and sort it then that would be an answer, but we just don't have the space."

Ms Jones said that the climate around refugees had changed over the course of this year, and has seen a fall in the number of people coming forward to offer help.

She said: "What we have got is a different situation. For the first time this year we have had no kind of big news of people arriving where there is an appeal and everyone comes out and perhaps gives free venues and wants to be helpful.

"Instead we have had a slow and steady incoming and outgoing of people so it is a steady flow of donations and made without a big emergency appeal."

Ms Jones said none of the venues looking after refugees, such as hotels or the army base, have space to store the donations – meaning the onus is on the charity to find room to keep them.

She said: "At the moment we are storing them but it is creating a health and safety issue."

She added: "We either need more help or someone else to take them on. It could be a small charity or group what could do it."

Ms Jones said the charity's issues are being compounded by uncertainty over funding streams for next year – which could result in it needing to downsize its premises.

She has also spoken of her frustration at the situation and the importance of the donations for people who have come to the country with nothing but the shirt on their back.

She said: "People escaping war and poverty they arrive in the country, if they have come on a refugee route they will have maybe a suitcase with them, but they're usually not prepared for the British weather, particularly in the winter and it can take weeks or months to get people onto benefits so there is a gap and we do our best to make sure families and children are not left struggling.

"For people that come into the country seeking asylum, they generally have what they have on their backs, nothing else.

"If they have been on the boats then they often will have flip flops and a Home Office distributed tracksuit and that is it. They have got no second set of clothing – and certainly no warm coats or jumpers."

She added: "But we just don't have capacity unless we have more help around storage and distribution."

Anyone with space for storage or who wishes to help the charity can email info@shropshiresupportsrefugees.co.uk.