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Staff at a coffee shop have been forced to shut down their charity efforts after receiving torrents of abuse from aggressive chancers.

Staff at the iCafe on Kilmarnock’s King Street had embraced the concept of ‘pay it forward’ to help those in need.

Here people can leave a donation when paying for their own coffee and food to fund a coffee for those less well-off.

As word of mouth about the store’s efforts spread, hundreds of generous locals left money to help provide teacakes, and even sandwiches for homeless people.

But just weeks after it started, managing director Umer Malik was forced to shut down the scheme after it was abused by selfish freeloaders. And the abuse didn’t just stop at taking an undeserved freebie, with staff subjected to several tirades of verbal attacks when chancers didn’t get what they wanted.

Speaking to the Standard this week, Umer said he was “disappointed” and “saddened” that he had been forced to close the scheme.

He told us: “‘Pay it forward’ started off really well and people gave a lot of money towards it. But then some of the people coming in were becoming abusive

towards staff.

“It was always the case that people who needed it could come in and get a free cuppa. Then we upgraded that to anything they liked, as long as there was money in the kitty from the scheme.

“So they could come in and get a panini for example. We just wanted to help others that were less fortunate and who needed a wee something.”

He added: “It was going really well, but then people started coming in and asking to use it because they didn’t have any money on them at the time.

“They were lying about staff members telling them to come in off the street to use it. That’s not what it was about.

“It was for people who didn’t have anything. Unfortunately there were one or two occasions we felt the staff were being threatened by recipients of the initiative who become very aggressive, abusive and threatening.”

That saw unappreciative freeloaders telling staff to “stick” the offer of a free cuppa because they weren’t getting the free lunch they wanted.

“We care about the community we serve,” Umer added. “We didn’t have to start the scheme, but we did it because we felt it was right.”

After the first instances of the scheme being mis-used, Umer and his team suspended it and advised donors.

They then tried to bleed the idea of a free cuppa back into their day-to-day business, setting aside one hour of the day where those in need could come in and have a drink, even some food, for free.

But shortly after its reintroduction, their generosity was again abused. Now the scheme has been scrapped permanently because of staff safety and security concerns.

“It was just getting too much,” Umer added. “It became a full-time job in itself almost. It’s a real shame.”

However, the staff’s charitable efforts have not stopped, having recently launched a toy appeal for Women’s Aid.

They are asking customers for any unwanted toys in brand new condition, or for customers to purchase a brand new toy for a child whose parents may not be able to afford one. These will then be donated to the Women’s Aid in time for Christmas day.

Of their efforts, Umer said: “The toy collection for Woman’s Aid came from one of our team members and she spearheaded the whole thing.

“There are too many children that may go without this Christmas. We want to change this for some where we can, because that’s what Christmas is all about.

“Our mission statement has always been to create a brand that everyone is proud of and to make a difference, no matter how small or big by bringing people together, one sip at a time.”