BOXER Alex Dickson fought for Britain.

The 54-year-old was the UK lightweight champion and represented the country at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

But when his finances hit the ropes in austerity Britain, the South Lanarkshire man faced his toughest fight – and found the welfare state was not in his corner.

As desperation took hold, the former athlete had to turn to food banks to survive and now says the support he found may have saved his life.

Dickson has found the strength to tell his story as the annual results from the Trussell Trust reveal demand for emergency supplies in Scotland has hit a new record high.

Usage has risen nine per cent in the past year, with enough food distributed to cover almost the entire population of Dundee.

Almost 48,000 of the 145,900 three-day packs went to children.

Low income, including in-work poverty, is now the single biggest reason for a referral to a Scottish food bank, making up one quarter of all cases.

Another 24 per cent of clients seek help over benefits delays and 18 per cent for changes to their benefits.

Ewan Gurr, Scotland network manager for the charity, said inflation and problems associated with the roll-out of Universal Credit, including a six-week payment delay for many claimants, have pushed many below the breadline.

He said: “The discovery that food banks in Scotland gave out enough emergency food to feed the entire population of Dundee for three days is deeply worrying and the reasons underpinning this are just as concerning.

“Worrying stories emanating from food banks highlight the reality that a record 12-month inflation rate of 2.3 per cent and benefit delays attributed to the rollout of Universal Credit are leaving men, women and children up and down the country sitting at the dinner table with no food in front of them.

“With both council elections and a general election on the horizon, it is absolutely critical for confirmed as well as prospective candidates to put tackling hunger and food poverty front and centre of the policy agenda.”

Five years ago just 5,726 emergency food packs were distributed by the Trussell Trust in Scotland. The network has grown with the need and there are now 52 food banks and 118 centres in 28 local authorities from the Borders to Shetland, which opened earlier this year.

More than 1,270 tonnes of food were distributed in 2016-17, 90 per cent of which was donated by the public.

For the UK as a whole, 1,183,000 three-day packs were given to people in crisis during that period, up from 1,109,300 in the previous year. A total of 436,900 of the 2016.17 clients were children.

Mother Vicky, who did not give her last name, was referred to a food bank in Aberdeenshire after a housing officer realised how badly her family was struggling. She said: “You don’t ever think you’re not going to be able to feed your children. You don’t want to tell people that you’re scared you can’t feed your children. Your pride takes a massive dent.

“If there weren’t food banks I think it would lead to a lot more crime being committed. It would make a lot of criminals out of a lot of desperate people. Food banks being here are a massive relief but it also I think gave, both certainly my partner and I, the confidence to ask and seek out help.”

After finding the support he needed from the Trussell Trust, Bellshill-born Dickson now volunteers to help others in crisis. He said: “I’m a former Olympic athlete, I’m a former British champion, I’ve had my own businesses – I’ve had several businesses – and then all of a sudden everything came crashing down.

“If it hadn’t have been for the food bank I’d have been in real big trouble. I wouldn’t have been eating. I was on the brink. I was in a bad way.”

He went on: “All the people in the food bank were fantastic. They were really nice, they were really helpful and that was one of the reasons I wanted to give my time as a volunteer.

“It’s a great feeling knowing that you’re helping people. If we didn’t have the food bank, people would have nowhere to go, nowhere to eat.

“If it wasn’t for the food bank, I probably wouldn’t be here.”