A volunteer has been left feeling vulnerable after her hand sanitiser was stolen from a charity shop.

Ann Spain brought a bottle of anti-bacterial gel in to Age UK in Maidstone last week for staff and volunteers to use while on the till.

The 80-year-old left the large dispenser bottle between the till and the telephone on the counter but when she returned for her next shift two days later, it was no where to be seen.

She is now worried she and her staff will be less protected against coronavirus.

Mrs Spain: "We're being told to wash our hands regularly but when it's busy on the till you don't have time to keep going out the back to the sink.

"And we're handling lots of money, which is quite dirty, I thought it would be good to keep some hand sanitiser on the counter for people to use."

The Boxley resident who has been volunteering at the store for 16 years added: "When I came back, it had disappeared.

"We looked everywhere for it but couldn't find it.

"I know you shouldn't judge unless you've been in somebody else's shoes - they might be poor or have children to look after - but all of us volunteers are over 65 and the most prone to getting the illness.

"I know we've got a crisis but it's the principal - they're putting elderly people at risk.

"I'm a bit scared - I've got a bull'seye on my chest because of my age - if I get the illness I'm probably not going to survive."

But Mrs Spain isn't too surprised the gel has disappeared, claiming the Gabriel's Hill store is a frequent victim of theft.

Luckily, she still has a little bottle of sanitiser which she is keeping safely in her handbag.

It comes as shelves are emptying of hand gel and soap in supermarkets and chemists in the wake of two confirmed cases of coronavirus now being present in the county.

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