Luton Blood Donor Centre calls for more donors

Luton Blood Donor Centre manager Emma Martin said donating blood helps "save and improve lives"

A blood donation centre has called on more people to make appointments after a quiet festive season.

The Luton Blood Donor Centre said it experienced a "dip in stock" at this time of year.

Centre manager Emma Martin said there had also been a "high amount of last-minute cancellations" due to Covid and it being cold and flu season.

Ms Martin said she wanted to encourage people to donate their blood to "help save and improve people's lives".

"We appreciate things change and there are lots of coughs and colds," she said.

"Obviously Covid had made people a little bit wary of coming out but we are a safe environment and are practising social distancing wherever we can."

Claire Astbury was on her lunch break when she donated blood

Claire Astbury said she donated blood because "it's an easy thing to do".

"It's completely painless," she said.

"It's no problem at all to me and it's something that can really make a big difference to someone somewhere."

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Ms Astbury said it was "great" to receive messages about when the blood donated had been used.

"It's often quite quickly, which just showed what the stocks are like," she said.

"I would expect a text within the next week or two."