Huge Response By Chiswick Residents To Call For Donations To Fire Victims

Local van hire company "overwhelmed " by generosity after issuing a radio appeal

The Chiswick Van Hire company which issued a radio appeal for donations for the victims of the Grenfell Tower blaze was "overwhelmed" by the response by local people yesterday.

Staff from their Bollo Lane base made four trips to the designated centres for donations following a radio appeal on LBC by manager Karl Pierard on the James O Brien show. Karl offered to transport any local donations in the company's fleet of vans, rather than have individuals doing it themselves.

"Within minutes we were swamped by people arriving at the door, with everything, you name it it appeared. Blankets, toiletries, fresh and non-perishable foods like pot noodles, nappies, loads of stuff for kids, everything and anything."

He said they made four deliveries to designated areas for donations but then were told the collection points could no longer take in more items. They donated all the perishable foodstuff to local homeless charities last night.

The van hire firm has been based in Bollo Lane for several years. Managing Director Emily Scott drove the vans to the donation points yesterday and extra staff have been drafted in to help out today.

Said manager Karl; "We'd ask people to stop coming to us with donations at the moment as we have a considerable bank of stuff building up now and one full van parked here and packed up.

"However, should the request come out for more help, we'll be ready to go straight away," he said. One local primary school already has a considerable amount of donations which they are hoping to send by van.

Hammersmith & Fulham Council has now asked people to stop bringing donations to the Westway Sports Centre.

The council says: "Kensington and Chelsea Council has been inundated with donations for the people affected by the fire. They say ‘thank you’ to everybody but they now can’t take any more donations. So please don’t bring any more food or clothes to any of the Hammersmith & Fulham collection points. "

Instead, the council advises anyone wishing to volunteer or to donate money to visit Kensington and Chelsea Councils' Twitter account.

June 15, 2017