THREE of a hospice's charity shops have reopened.

Herriot Hopice Homecare has opened its shops in Finkle Street, Richmond, High Street, Stokesley and Market Place, Thirsk, with measures in place to help people with social distancing.

In order to ensure donations are quarantined for 72 hours before sale, and to navigate space constraints, a drop-off point will be open between 10am and 4pm (excluding furniture) on Tuesday to Saturday, which people are asked to use instead of taking items to shops.

The temporary facility is located at Unit 3, Omega Business Village, Thurston Road, Northallerton, DL6 2NJ.

Chief executive Tony Collins said: "We are delighted we are able to begin opening the doors of our wonderful shops following a thorough period of planning and preparation and keen to welcome our customers back."

"Naturally the safety of our customers, volunteers and employees has been at the very heart of our decision making.

“We are thankful that so many local people have been keeping their donations safe at home for us. In order to manage the required quarantine of goods to the highest possible standards; we have centralised the receipt of donations for the safety of everyone. For this reason we will be unable to take donations in at our shops and instead would ask for items to be taken to our temporary donation drop off point. We would very much like to thank Chris Herron at Herron Associates, and William Birch & Sons Limited for their support in making this alternative arrangement happen.”