Charities say families are going several days without eating as food and utility prices rise
Crisis-hit families are going several days without eating while being forced to sleep in homes without heating as food and utility prices rocket.
Westcountry charity workers say they have received a sharp increase in pleas from cash-strapped residents who are desperate for hand-outs to feed their families.
One volunteer says some parents are unable to scrape enough money together to buy food for their children, while others are being forced to wrap themselves in curtains because they cannot afford bedding or heating bills.
And they say the situation is only going to get worse as heating bills increase in tandem with food prices, which are rising almost three times faster than the rest of Europe.
Jacqui White, project manager of Wadebridge Food Bank in North Cornwall, said it had doubled the amount of ration boxes it had handed out over the last year, with a particularly sharp rise in the last eight weeks.
Mrs White said: "It is heartbreaking. We are seeing people coming in for food who have not eaten for three or four days.
"They are struggling to feed their children and themselves and, in one case, they are sleeping on the floor wrapped in curtains because they cannot afford to buy duvets."
Mrs White said the situation has been caused by a particularly cold winter, forcing families to spend what money they have heating homes.
She added: "The bills have started to come in now and people simply cannot afford to pay for food."
A report published by the Swiss bank UBS said British food prices rose 4.9 per cent in the past year compared with 1.8 per cent in the eurozone and 1.5 per cent in America. The report said commodities inflation would justify an increase a three per cent on processed food but supermarkets upped prices by six per cent.
Geoff Read, Devon and Cornwall Food Association secretary, said it was delivering 350 litres of short-date milk for organisations to dispense among the most needy.
He said the group was also searching for volunteers and drivers.
Devon and Cornwall's Citizen's Advice Bureau's have seen a surge in visitors. Jim McKenzie, bureau sessions supervisor in Truro, said Cornish branches have reported a 15 per cent increase in inquiries since January.
He said: "The cost of utilities are rising all the time, which has prompted people to turn to us."
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