With more people than ever relying on food banks to get by, kmfm set out to collect as many tonnes of tins as possible.

Between July 8 and August 11, listeners and readers brought tins of beans, soup and other food to the station’s offices in Medway, or donated to its JustGiving page.

While a target of £5,000 was set, the page received £7,318 which has “exceeded expectations”.

Today, the kmfm crew started their first day of donation delivery, with 16 food banks in total set to benefit from the campaign.

Drivetime presenter Numi Gildert said: “We know it’s a difficult time for a lot of people in Kent.

“We looked at the prices of things this year and the prices of tins that we bought last year had increased.

“So, we were worried that we weren’t going to meet last year’s target – but the listeners have just absolutely blown us away with their generosity and we can’t wait to get out and give it to the food banks.”

The final weigh-in for the Tonnes of Tins campaign will take place on Thursday.

Last year, kmfm collected more than six tonnes for food banks – for context, approximately 2,400 420g tins of beans or similar food items equate to one tonne.

The donation delivery will also continue tomorrow and Drivetime presenter Rob Wills, who is also head of broadcasting and programme manager, says upon completion there will be money left over which will be donated to a 17th food bank.

The campaign also involved 11 sponsors who arranged drop-off points at their own locations.

Breakfast presenter Chelsea said: “They’ve blown us away, not only with the JustGiving but the donations coming into kmfm HQ and the drop-off points which we’ll see today.

“It’s going to be really exciting to see what they’ve got there.”

As part of the donations, listeners could order an online shop to the studio.

Daytime presenter Andy Walker said: “Over the last three to four weeks on air we have been asking listeners to kindly donate what they can via the JustGiving page, or actual tins of food, whatever they can afford whatever they can spare.

“It’s fair to say it exceeded expectations.”