PROSPECT Hospice has paused donation stations after being overwhelmed by thousands of items from generous Swindonians.

The charity's shops and distribution centre are already full to the brim with stock to sell since it opened its donation stations only three weeks ago.

Head or retail Victoria Canavan said, “When we opened our donation stations on June 15, we had no idea how well they would be supported and we’ve seen such incredible support for the hospice over the last few weeks that we simply cannot take any more at the moment.

“Because of this we have had to make the difficult decision to temporarily pause our acceptance of donations at this time.”

The hospice distribution centre team is now working hard to sort through all the donations received so far and get these out to the charity’s 18 shops around Swindon and north east Wiltshire as they begin to re-open over the coming weeks.

All donated items were placed in quarantine for 72 hours.

Ms Canavan added: “We will let supporters know as soon as we are able to accept pre-loved goods again and thank everyone for their patience in keeping hold of these.

"Thank you as well to everyone who has already donated so far for your extraordinary support of Prospect Hospice at this time.”