The UK’s first vending machine for the homeless has been opened in a Nottingham shopping centre.

Rough sleepers can now get three drums of goods a day from the machine, containing items such as food, water, warm clothes and sanitary products.

A key card is needed to access the machine and recipients have to attend local support services once a week to keep it activated.

The scheme has been launched by a new charity, Action Hunger, and has attracted support from multinational companies such as Google and Uber.

Project is the brainchild of the charity’s founder and student, Huzaifah Khaled, who developed the scheme over the last two years while studying for a PhD in Law at Cambridge and Harvard.