WHEN panic buyers began emptying the shelves, bosses at Kings Park Village were devastated to discover residents had gone more than a week without any food being delivered to their homes.

Now the team at the park home site on Canvey has stepped in to provide a door-to-door contactless food delivery service to help the most vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic.

More than 100 deliveries a day are being dropped off directly to residents’ doors in an effort to keep them safe and away from supermarkets.

Lorraine Jones relies on the service to make sure her 82-year-old mum Josephine, who lives on the park, receives supplies.

Lorraine, from Benfleet, said: “My husband went to the shop to try and get us and mum some food, but both times he tried the queues were absolutely disastrous.

“I rang Kings Park and told them the situation, they were absolutely fantastic. They even delivered 1,000 hot cross buns to residents at Easter and gave residents a green and red card to put in their windows if they need help.”

Kings Park will now roll out a click-and-collect option across Canvey, which nurses, firefighters, care workers and care homes will be able to benefit from.

Bosses are also appealing for volunteer drivers to provide a delivery service to reach more elderly people.

Rob Turner, head of residential division at Kings Park Village, said: “We did a survey and found that two ladies had gone a week without food deliveries - at that point we knew we had to take quick action.

“Kings Park is for over fifties and we have the single largest population in the UK of people considered vulnerable to this disease both due to their age and underlying conditions. We want to keep them safe and isolated, away from supermarkets where they could contract the virus and hope to take this further to protect our frontline staff along with the vulnerable people living outside our gates.

“For click-and-collect it will be a case of registering and if we can get volunteers for a delivery service, we will take payment, organise and bag the food.”

To register or for information, contact 01268 511 555.