A CHARITY which helps terminally ill patients has been accused of throwing away items donated to its shop. A Weston Mercury reader got in touch with the paper to complain about an incident which they said took place at the Weston Hospicecare Mart in Worle

A CHARITY which helps terminally ill patients has been accused of throwing away items donated to its shop.A Weston Mercury reader got in touch with the paper to complain about an incident which they said took place at the Weston Hospicecare Mart in Worle High Street.In a letter, the anonymous resident says they saw a hospicecare shop assistant piling plates and vases into a basket before dumping them into a bin.The shopper said they were so angry they would not be donating any further goods to the charity.Weston Hospicecare chief executive Colin Sills said items would only be disposed of if they had failed to sell despite the charity's best efforts. Donated goods are reduced in price and rotated among all of Weston Hospicecare's eight shops to maximise the chance of a sale. They are also passed to other charity shops or recycled, said the charity boss.Mr Sills said: "We simply cannot place a value on the generosity of our supporters and customers who make such a vital contribution to our work. "Our charity shop managers and volunteers work hard to ensure that every item is sold for a fair price. "It is inevitable that some goods will fail to sell and it is at this point that we reluctantly dispose of them to make way for replacement items. "On this specific occasion, the manager of the Worle shop was not given an opportunity to explain our policy to the customer. "We understand that without a proper explanation, the apparent disregard with which the items were disposed of could be distressing and we apologise for this.