Coventry people are being asked to give old radios to asylum seekers in the city to give them something to listen to.

People waiting for application for refugee status to be processed are put up in houses with very basic facilities.

Although they are furnished, there is often nothing else, and the asylum seekers usually have no possessions at all.

The Hillfields Asylum Seekers planning group is appealing for people to hunt out old, unused, battery-operated radios and donate them to the new arrivals.

John Payne, Phoenix Area Co-ordinator, said:

“Asylum seekers come to this country with little or nothing by way of possessions.

“They are housed in furnished accommodation but with only the minimum of facilities and equipment to survive.

“This does not include a television which many of us would regard of essential, and anyway they are not given enough money to buy a TV licence fee.

“Most families in Coventry probably have an old tranny that they no longer use, probably packed away in the loft or garage.

“If you have a radio that you would be willing to give away to a good cause we would like to hear from you.”

Anyone able to help should drop it off at the Area Co-ordination office in Primrose Hill Street, or workers there know how to collect it.

Mr Payne added:

“We don't have facilities for checking the electrical safety of equipment, so battery radios only please!”