A shocking 11 people a day are visiting food banks in one of London’s richest boroughs, new figures have revealed.

The report released by The Trussell Trust, the biggest provider of food banks across the UK, has shown that 4,141 people used Hammersmith and Fulham’s two foodbanks in Fulham and Shepherd’s Bush from April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014.

That includes 1,399 children and amounts to 11 people per day - or one person visiting a foodbank in the borough every 127 minutes, making it the seventh most popular borough for foodbank use in the capital despite being one of the wealthiest overall.

Daphine Aikens, charity manager for Hammersmith and Fulham Foodbank, said she was quite surprised by the figures but had forecast the amount of people relying on them would double in the 2013/14 financial year.

“It’s quite surprising when you bear in mind four years ago when we started, we had about 10 people a week coming in,” she said. “From 2012-13 we had 2,619 people in total with 853 children so there’s definitely been a big rise in the amount of children coming in.

“It’s always sad seeing babies and toddlers coming in but it’s almost worse seeing older children because they get so excited by little things like tinned tomatoes and jam as they’re used to having plain pasta or toast for dinner every day.

“We’re actually trying to encourage people to donate healthier foods like tinned fruit and vegetables, we get so much pasta and rice which we’re obviously very grateful for but people need to eat healthily even if they cannot afford it.”

Since Ms Aikens helped start up the Fulham Foodbank four years ago she has seen a massive increase in volunteers and donations as more hungry people are using the service following referrals from social services.

She added: “We get offered lots of help from people and more and more supermarkets in the borough are offering to have collection points but we always need more food and help to keep up with demand.”

  •  Hammersmith and Fulham Foodbanks are based in Christ Church Fulham, 67 Studdridge Street and at St Simons, Rockley Road, Shepherd’s Bush. Drop-off points are at the borough’s libraries and several supermarkets.
  •  For more information on how to donate, volunteer or fundraise visit hammersmithfulham.foodbank.org.uk