HAVING shopped with my family in Ashley Road for many years I take much exception at Mr Richard Wilson’s comments (Echo, December 3) complaining about charity shops.

Certainly Ashley Road is not all we would want it to be but in my view, and that of the many hundreds who visit charity shops every day, these outlets do hugely valuable work.

All the huge time and work that goes into organising the stock donations, laying out the shop, organising voluntary staff, and all the other aspects of running any business, with the benefit that the profit goes directly into the work of the charity, not to the business owner.

In fact, these modern day outlets are recycle outlets, raising money for charity and offering for shoppers no end of surprises. Every charity shop in Ashley Road is clean and modern and so important for those on low incomes.

The rules may seem unfair to Mr Wilson but if charity shops did not have large discounts on business rates most would most likely have to close.

And then we would have another dozen empty shuttered outlets in Ashley Road and a vast amount of charity work would come to an end.

IRENE COOPER, Churchill Road, Parkstone