Customers in Tesco stores across Great Yarmouth have been thanked for 'stopping hunger this Christmas'.

Generous customers in the town donated more than 3,000 meals for food charities FareShare and The Trussell Trust during the Tesco Food Collection.

The initiative ran in stores from November 29 to December 1.

Customers were asked to donate long-life items to help those in need as part of their usual shop.

The collections were donated to charities FareShare and The Trussell Trust.

Food donated to FareShare was distributed to charities and community groups.

They used it to provide meals for vulnerable groups such as isolated older people and those in homeless shelters.

Chief executive at FareShare, Lindsay Boswell thanked Tesco customers for their generosity.

'Thanks to the generosity of Tesco shoppers over the festive season, we have enough long-life food to provide meals to those helping people in need across the UK.

'The food donated at the Tesco Food Collection will make a tremendous difference to the thousands of charities and community groups,' he said.

Tesco has once again topped up the value of the customer donations by 20pc,

It provided the two charities with funding to run the food banks and distribute the food to those in need.

Chief executive of Tesco in the UK, Jason Tarry, said it had been taken aback by the generosity of customers.

He said: 'I am proud that together with our customers and charity partners we are able to feed so many people in need this Christmas.

'We know this annual collection makes a real difference to the charities we work with and I would like to thank everyone who has donated.'

The items donated to food banks in The Trussell Trust's network were given out in emergency food parcels to people referred because they could not afford to feed themselves and their families.

Chief executive at The Trussell Trust, Emma Revie thanked people for 'stopping hunger this Christmas'.

'Our food bank network has spent the last month making sure that people referred to them with no money for food do not go hungry this Christmas,' she said.

North Denes Primary School in Great Yarmouth also set up a food bank for children's families who could not afford to buy food.