SCAVENGERS have been condemned for trawling through donations left outside a charity shop and making off with their findings.

Bags of clothes and other donations are regularly left outside St Luke's Hospice shop in Bridge Street, Pinner, after closing time and staff have been shocked to find they have been opened before they arrive for work in the morning.

Branch manager Kim Heness, 26, said: "By the looks of things and mess when I arrive on a Monday morning they have ripped open all of the bags and gone through all of the stuff.

"It is very disappointing because people are willing to give their things to us and it doesn't reach us. It means that we lose money and it is disheartening.

"Sometimes the clothes become wet because they aren't in the bags and the volunteers have to clean up the mess. We can't use those clothes either because they are damaged."

Hilary Berry, managing director of St Luke's Hospice, said: "It is a massive problem for us.

"People leave their donations outside and it is a shame that people believe that if you leave things outside they won't get taken.

"We have put up signs outside asking people not to do it and we have even got a collection service so people can still give to us without leaving their stuff outside the shop."

Hilary added that the problem of people trawling through donations left outside the shop was worst at the Pinner branch because it is such a big shop, but added that there were problems with theft at South Harrow and Kenton too.

She said: "On Sunday someone left a dressing unit outside the shop and came in this morning to ask staff if they had received it but we hadn't.

"Someone else had left some bags of nearly new clothes outside the shop and they were really upset that their donation hadn't reached us."

She added that the night scavengers who rip open bags of donations in search of charity treasure leave rubbish outside and staff have to spend the first hour of every Monday clearing it up.

The charity is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and has been based at Kenton Grange since 2000. During that time it has cared for more than 1,500 patients within its inpatient and day care units and provided advice and support for their families and carers.

Care at the hospice is based on the simple idea that a dying patient is a living person, with unique physical, emotional, social and spiritual needs and St Luke's provides care free of charge, for rich or poor, young or old, regardless of faith or belief, in a compassionate and peaceful environment.

Kim explained that all of the charity's shops were open six days a week and that if people had large items of furniture that needed to be collected they should call the Kenton branch on 020 8909 2311.

Last year the shops managed to raise more than £400,000 for the charity.