Croydon Central MP Sarah Jones has praised the “huge generosity” of the Croydon community after a visit to refugee camps in Calais and Dunkirk.

Jones previously appealed for donations of essential items such as warm clothes, tents, sleeping bags and toiletries, to take to refugees living in very basic conditions around Calais and Dunkirk.

Hundreds of items were delivered to the camp. 

Sarah Jones, MP for Croydon Central, said: “I was blown away by the huge generosity shown by people in Croydon ahead of this trip. Croydon is such a diverse and welcoming place and the support shown for refugees living in unimaginable conditions has been overwhelming.

“Something as simple as a warm jumper or a sleeping bag can make such a big difference to people who have so little. The French police are confiscating essential items like tents every day. As we approach winter these donations are so desperately needed, I urge anyone who can, to donate or make the journey to Calais to see for themselves.

“The situation is reaching crisis point. Numbers are rapidly increasing, and we saw lots of vulnerable children, some unaccompanied. Criminal gangs are operating within the population and there are huge risks for the children who we saw slipping off into the woods to hide.

"It’s a disgrace that the Government still refuses to take more child refugees under the Dubs scheme. So far we have taken just 280 unaccompanied child refugees.”

The unprecedented number of donations were warmly received by volunteers from the charity Help Refugees, who support thousands of refugees every day.

Jones spent time with volunteers working on the ground as with refugees from Iraq, Afghanistan and Sudan.

She visited several camps in the area, distributing over 1,300 hot meals alongside the charity Refugee Community Kitchen.

Josh Hallam, Field Manager for Help Refugees in Calais, said: “At the moment, we’re in a situation whereby, we’re having numbers increase, and so we have 1,300 people in Grande-Synthe, and around 700 people in Calais.

“We’re trying our best to respond to this from this warehouse by distributing sleeping bags, by distributing tents, by trying to provide people with the support that they need to survive in these conditions. As that gets into winter, and it gets below zero that’s going to become even harder, and it’s going to become life or death.

“What I would like to try and get people to do, is get your MPs out here, like Sarah Jones. Get people you know out here, write to your MPs, get them talking about this. Because 2,000 people are here, facing these horrendous, completely avoidable conditions, with police violence, police intimidation, with lack of even basic facilities.”