A donation rail has been set up by volunteers in Kingston to help people in need of warm clothes.

Kingston Take One Leave One (TOLO) was started in February by Kingston Grammar teacher Anna Edwards, 35, to offer items such as coats and hats to anyone who needs them.

Other rails were set up by community volunteers around South London recently including in Peckham, Brixton and Vauxhall.

Edwards said: "The response has been great and people have been really positive and generous.

"We have had a lot of people come to pick things up, especially in the very cold months where we had scarves, hats and gloves as well.

"With everything that has gone on this year with furlough and job losses, and clothing charity shops that people would normally get clothes from not being accessible, Kingston Take One Leave One has been open to anyone that needs it."

Donated clothes are cleaned and quarantined before being added to the rail to protect people from Covid-19.

Edwards explained the group will now have a break while they look for a permanent location where they hope the rail can continue unmanned.

Rough sleeping in Kingston increased over the past year with 124 people seen on the streets between 2019-2020, up from 86 in 2018-19 according to a report by the Combined Homelessness and Information Network.

Kingston TOLO volunteer Tabatha Penny, 28, said: "We're facing a massive economic crisis and a lot of people have lost their jobs, a big thing is charity shops and cheap shops not being open, so places where people would go and not spend loads of money on a coat are closed."

Michelle Oats, 52, lives near Hampton Court and donated a pair of gardening gloves to Kingston TOLO on Saturday.

She said: "It's an amazing idea, I think these guys volunteering are just the best. I've got stuff at home which I'm sure we all have to give and let people share it."