Foodbanks in Glasgow have been given a donation from a luxury watch seller to help people buy food.

Watches of Switzerland, which has shops in the city centre and whose chief executive is from Glasgow has donated £20,000 for four city foodbanks.

Trussell Trust foodbanks in the south east, south west, north east and north west will dhare out the cash.

It is part of a pledge to give £100,000 to foodbanks across cities in the UK to help prevent unnecessary hunger. It is also donating $50,000 to foodbanks in the USA, in New York, Las Vegas and Florida.

The Glasgow food banks have chosen to use the donation, worth £5000 to each, to supplement food parcels with vouchers for Farmfoods stores.

Brian Duffy, CEO of The Watches of Switzerland Group, said: “During the Covid-19 crisis as more and more people fall on hard times, we are very aware of the significant increase in those relying on food banks and we wanted to play a small role in giving back to those most in need.

“While looking after the health and wellbeing of our colleagues has been our main priority, we also recognised the need to look after the people living in the communities around our stores. “Our people have always been truly passionate about helping local causes, and we hope that these donations will help the food banks keep up with the demand they are experiencing to feed families in the UK and USA.”

Audrey Flannagan, manager of Glasgow South East Foodbank, said: “Firstly I want to thank The Watches of Switzerland Group for their wonderful donation, it means a great deal to our food bank and the other three Glasgow food banks. While demand for emergency food has increased, donations – which we rely on to run – dropped by the same amount, so gestures like this mean we can continue to feed our community.

“We will use the donation to purchase vouchers for Farmfoods stores. This means that as well as giving out our food parcels, we are able to give vouchers to people to use as they need to, giving them more choice and access to fresh fruit and veg, and extending the length of time the parcel lasts.”