A MALDON firefighter has been going beyond the call of duty during the pandemic.

Lyndsey Gymer decided to go more than the extra mile in the pandemic to help the local community in her free time - and deliver food parcels to those in most need.

The on-call firefighter at Maldon Fire Station, Wycke Hill, stepped in when she discovered that the owners of the eco-friendly shop, Silo, in Bright's Path, were delivering to residents when supermarket shelves started to empty.

The sisters who own the shop, Charlotte and Lucie, told Lyndsey they were struggling to keep up with demand – so she volunteered to help out.

Lyndsey said: "People would email in orders and between them the sisters, Charlotte and Lucie, would process, pack and deliver.

"They put out a message on their social media pages saying that orders would be delayed or they may have to stop taking orders as they just couldn't keep up.

"I sent Charlotte a message offering to help deliver any outstanding and future orders if it helped them out and the very next day I was there picking up numerous boxes and bags of orders to be delivered to people locally.

"Charlotte offered to pay me, but I said I was more than happy to help if it meant local people could get their basic supplies delivered."