A WESTBURY charity has been left disappointed after Tesco halted shoppers from voting for good causes to support from a community fund because of the coronavirus threat.

Abraham’s Kitchen in Westbury is one of three groups bidding to bag a £2,000 cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

The charity was calling for shoppers’ votes to bag the lion's share of cash to provide a free lunch for up to 60 people during the school holidays.

Julie Dyer, of Westbury Town Council, which helped set up the charity, said: “Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 outbreak across the UK, Tesco has taken the difficult decision to suspend Bags of Help voting and remove blue tokens in order to reduce physical touch points for staff members and customers.

"Tesco told us that it remains committed to supporting local causes and hopes to reschedule this voting round as soon as they can.

"We are disappointed by this news but understand the reasoning behind this decision.

"In the meantime, the Abraham's Kitchen project is on hold and our staff team is doing all it can to support Westbury Town Council's food relief scheme."

The charity had hoped to gain Tesco Bags of Help votes from shoppers in nine stores across Westbury, Warminster, Trowbridge, Melksham and Frome, during April, May and June.

Tesco works with Groundwork to run its community funding scheme, which sees grants of £2,000, £1,000 and £500 awarded to local community projects.

The scheme has already provided over £80 million to more than 27,000 projects across Britain.

To find out more, visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.