A CHARITY shop was stunned when someone 'donated' over two thousand DVDs, some of which were believed to be illegal copies.

Cornwall Hospice Care has urged people not to use their sites as a "dumping ground" - after the discs were left in its electrical goods skip.

The charity said the DVDs were left in outside its donation centre in Bodmin across two separate incidents.

It said that many of the legitimate DVDs had become unsaleable as they had been rained on or were broken.

Volunteer and staff removed the items from the skip and put them in one of its waste bins that they pay to have emptied.

As a result of the dumping, the charity said that it incurred costs that it would otherwise have been used on the hospice care for which it raises money for.

In a plea to the local community shared on social media, a spokesperson for Cornwall Hospice Care said: "This is unacceptable and it is illegal (as it is fly-tipping) and it is taking money directly from our hospice care.

''It's possible the person doing this thinks that they are doing good and donating to us so we'd like to share this message in the hope it reaches them.

"You can only donate to our donation sites when they are open. Please do not use us as a dumping ground."

The charity is running a campaign to encourage people to only donate items that they or a family member might buy.

It said about 40 per cent of items handed in cannot be sold due to their quality, condition or for health and safety reasons.

It added a full list of what items it can accept and where and when people could donate them was available on its website.