Oil donation means Wiltshire family can heat home

A Wiltshire man is able to heat his home after an anonymous Good Samaritan donated 500 litres of oil.

Harry Lay, 36, told the BBC despite him and his wife Kittie, 36, both working, rising energy bills meant they could not heat their home in Cricklade.

Since the interview last week, an oil tanker arrived at Mr Lay's home and delivered the family heating oil.

He said: "[It's] remarkable and for us it means that we can put the heating on and not have to worry."

Mr Lay said the family are still being "frugal" with the oil and hope it will last them several months.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wiltshire, he explained the delivery arrived "out of the blue" and was "completely unexpected".

"We still to this day don't know who it was," he added.

"It's a fantastic feeling. We're so grateful and hopefully one day we can pay that forward and return the favour to somebody else."

Mr Lay said his motivation for talking publicly about his situation was not to "plead poverty", but to highlight that "many people are in the same position".

Since the donation he has decided to campaign to "try and make a difference for other people - that's really important for me".

He added: "My plea to the Prime Minister Boris Johnson and to the government is to please come up with a deal that is mutually beneficial to everyone.

"Because there are so many people out there who are going to be affected.

"People with children, the elderly, people with mental health and physical disabilities.

"These are the people that we still need to be looking after."