Eighteen police officers clubbed together to buy food hampers to give to the elderly on Christmas Day.

The officers worked through the morning offering goodwill gestures and stayed with the recipients to chat.

PC Donna Gibson, from Brighton and Hove police, contacted Age Concern for names and addresses.

The hampers included drinks, mince pies, chocolates, crackers, cheese, meat and vegetables and cake.

PC Gibson said: "Christmas is a time for giving and we thought it would be good to give our time as well as the hampers to people who would otherwise be alone."