I am writing to add to the letter from Mrs M Broderick (The Argus, April 19) about people stealing donations left outside charity shops.

I am the manager of the Marie Curie Cancer Care shop in St George's Road, Kemp Town, and am often asked why I do not do more to prevent people from stealing donations.

In the past we had a large gate built, which cost more than £100, to act as a kind of barricade.

Within days the gate was badly damaged and unusable, as people were intent on stealing donations. I called the police on this and many other occasions.

Moreover, the shop is directly in front of a CCTV camera. To date, no action has been taken to my knowledge.

I once caught a couple loading up their car and asked them why it was acceptable for them to take items clearly left for the charity.

Their justification was that if they did not steal it, somebody else would. Although a laughable response, it is true.

This particular couple are regular stallholders at a Sunday car boot sale and make money for themselves by selling goods stolen from outside charity shops.

I would urge caution in approaching these thieves, as they can be unpleasant and aggressive and do not feel they are doing anything wrong.

The only solution is for donations to be brought into the shop during opening hours (9am to 4.30pm) and not left outside a closed shop for people to steal.

As well as raising money for cancer research, Marie Curie provides free hospice care in nine hospices nationally and home nursing for 18,000 men, women and children with cancer, which last year cost £78 million, which has to be raised.

These are the people being robbed.

In the meantime, if any reader can offer any solutions to this problem, I would be grateful.

-Nicky Way, manager, Marie Curie Cancer Care, St George's Road, Brighton