London food bank queue stretches down road

A line for a food bank stretching down the road was the "largest queue" a community kitchen has ever encountered, it said.

London's Community Kitchen live-streamed people queuing two-metres apart outside the food bank in Wembley, west London, on Saturday.

The organisation said the third lockdown had intensified demand.

Head of outreach Afzal Parkar said food poverty had "gone out of control" with similar queues across London.

The queue was filmed at 11:00 GMT as London's Community Kitchen's weekly food bank opened at Brent Indian Association in Ealing Road.

Mr Parkar said the group gave a week's worth of food that day to 520 people collecting for 2,000 residents.

He said: "This was definitely the largest queue we've encountered - I have not witnessed anything like this.

"Motorists on the road paused just to take in the visual impact of this humungous queue of people two-metres apart.

"It literally spiralled down the whole of Ealing Road."

The recipients of the food had been referred by local organisations to the food bank, which has been running for seven years.

The video has since been viewed more than 724,000 times on Facebook.

"They were already on low income and the pandemic has literally brought them to a standstill," Mr Parkar said.

"They need food. Their children need food.

"They line up even when its blistering cold. These people have been soaked and drenched in rain without umbrellas, and it does not deter them to get there early and queue for two to three hours."

It comes as food poverty charity The Trussell Trust warned the Government's decision not to extend a £20 a week uplift to Universal Credit would put millions at risk of hunger.

In Parliament on Wednesday responding to a question on the issue, Boris Johnson said the Government would continue to put its "arms around" the people of the UK during the pandemic.