A pole dancing dress and slippers with claws are among the unwanted items donated to Ukrainian refugees.

There has been an outpouring of generosity from Worcester people desperate to support those living in Ukraine.

The country has been invaded by Russia and those fleeing often leave with nothing more than what they can fit in a backpack.

But among the generosity has been a small number of items donated by well meaning people which are inappropriate.

Dirty childrens shoes and flip flops in odd sizes have also been sent to collection centres -  along with thousands of much more useful items.

Volunteers at Worcester charity LikeU revealed that among the piles of practical donations dropped off by people, there have been some items that are either too expensive to ship or just aren’t useful.

Check before donating

Kasia Lozinska, of LikeU, said that overall, the response from people has been “amazing”.

“The majority of people have been checking with us before donating, either through Facebook Messenger or coming in and writing it down on a bit of paper,” she said.

“What we don’t want is old clothes that have been left at the bottom of a wardrobe. But we’ll take military gear, that’s like gold dust. And things like saline bags and medical aids, water bottles.”

Medicines, toiletries, nappies, baby food and sleeping bags are also on the list of items wanted.

Volunteers are also asking that people don’t mix different types of items (medicines, foods etc) as these have to be sorted by hand before being boxed up and taken to a collection centre.

LikeU runs a migrant support centre and is based at the side of Practical Car & Van Rental in Westbury Street. Anyone arriving by car to drop off donations is advised to access Westbury Street via Rainbow Hill.