A SHIPPING container was given to a Glasgow foodbank after generous donations flooded the shelves.

Glasgow North West Foodbank volunteers were yesterday able to start transferring some of their food and toiletries to the 20ft container.

The foodbank fed 583 people - 381 adults and 202 children - throughout December and January.

Thanks to kind-hearted Glasgow residents donating 9900kg worth of food in two months, organisers of the Trussell Trust-run foodbank were able to provide them with emergency food and toiletries packages.

However, foodbank staff realised they needed to change the way they stored food to make their warehouse safe.

They got in touch with BAE Systems to see if they could get spare cardboard boxes.

The firm asked Wincanton's to get in touch with the foodbank - and they offered them a shipping container.

Manager Kyle McCormick said: "It is amazing how generous people are.

"Before Christmas my wife Gillian had asked BAE Systems for some boxes. They got in touch with Wincanton who then offered to give us the container.

"We couldn't believe it."

The Heart of Scotstoun community centre got behind the foodbank and helped organisers find a space for the container.

Mr McCormick said: "We were so pleased that the Heart of Scotstoun helped us find a space for the container.

"Then Malcolm Construction offered to level the ground.

"We are just trying to manage the stock better, keep our warehouse safe and make sure nothing goes to waste."

The location of the container is to be kept under-wrapped because of the recent robbery at Maryhill Foodbank.

Mr McCormick said the foodbank is helping hundreds of people every month, through signposting them to other agencies and helping them with problems.

He said fuel poverty was becoming an increasingly common issue.

According to the foodbank, families with children of nursery school age had to given cold food packages, because they could not cook after their their power was cut off.

Mr McCormick said: "We're finding a lot of clients are struggling to pay their utility bills and they have no cooking facilities if their power is cut off.

"We've got round that by giving them food packages that don't need to be cooked but we're also trying to sort those issues out for clients.

"We're not just a foodbank, we spend a lot of time really trying to get people out of the situation, making phone calls and doing whatever we can."

The Trussell Trust, which runs a network of food banks across the UK, has reported a massive increase in the number of Scots needing help.

The total shot up from 5,726 in 2011-12 to 71,428 - including more than 22,000 children - in 2013-14.

During a visit to a foodbank in Airdrie, Social Justice secretary Alex Neil said it was "very difficult to put a true figure on the number of food banks in Scotland", adding that such services were "popping up all over the place".

He also warned the problem of food poverty could get worse, if further cuts are made.