BLIND families received a late Christmas present when Railtrack employees collected gifts for more than 200 food parcels.

Staff based at the Manchester headquarters collected tins and packets for the Blackburn and District Blind Society and the Blackburn Deaf-Blind Club, which were passed to needy blind and deaf-blind families.

The collection was part of Blackburn Partnership's Christmas Challenge organised by Wendy Hobson. She said: "The response by Railtrack has been absolutely amazing. We are always grateful for offers of support but I think that we have all been astonished by the overwhelming response to our Christmas campaign this year."

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