BORO fans pulled out all the stops to get over 150 litres of spare milk to needy Teesside families.

New Tier 4 restrictions imposed on the region meant Hotel Chocolat luxury chocolate brand had to close its Teesside Park store and was faced with pouring more than 50 bottles of milk down the drain.

But before staff cracked the seal on the bottles they asked for help to find the milk a good home and Middlesbrough Football Club fans stepped in.

Supporter TV channel RedArmyTV put out an appeal to put the milk to good use and within minutes the local community initiative, the White Feather Project, stepped forward to help.

Volunteers for the community project collected the milk and included the bottles in care packs that are being distributed to families across Teesside that are in need a helping hand.

RedArmyTV owner Dave Roberts said: “This is what the Boro community is all about, looking after itself.

"When Hotel Cocolat asked of we could find a suitable home for the milk we knew if we got the message out on the RedArmyTV platform, Teesside would rally to the cause, and it certainly did.”

White Feather Project’s Mark Horkan added: “This is just what we need to get to the people of Middlesbrough.

"Things can be tight for many families at this time of year so to have 50 bottles of milk supplied is a great help.”

“We want to offer a big thank you to both Hotel Chocolat and RedArmyTV for this.

"It’ll certainly make a difference to a lot of Teesside families.”