Frome Town FC's win-a-car draw halted after thousands of free entries

Frome Town Football Club said the "straw that really broke the camels back" was finding a box of 2,001 postcards on the club doorstep from "just one man"

A football club says it has been forced to cancel its charity prize draw for a brand new car after receiving thousands of free entries from the same person.

People hoping to win a SsangYong Tivoli car could either donate £5 to Frome Town FC and local food banks or enter for free by sending in a postcard.

Launched on 1 July, the winner was due to be announced at the end of August.

But the club said, after finding a "box of 2,001 postcards" on its doorstep from one man the "draw was now dead".

Frome Town FC said it had tried to do "something new" to raise funds for the club and food bank charity Fair Frome.

But despite more than 450 people pledging donations it said it had lost money in the campaign.

Scott Fitzgibbon, from the club, said it had hoped to "cover the cost of the car" as well as raise some funds.

"We weren't fully expecting to make a lot of money out of it," he said.

"But when you're running a prize draw you have to offer a free entry route."

The club said it received about 100 postcard entries in the first two weeks and "another flurry of postcards" after it was advertised as a free competition on the MoneySavingExpert website.

Tickets refunded

But the "straw that really broke the camels back" was finding a box of 2,001 postcards on the doorstep of the club from "just one man" who was local.

"People lost sight of why it was originally set up," said Mr Fitzgibbon.

"The number of entries coming in free, seriously outweighed the paid ones. We just had to close it. The club and the food banks weren't benefiting."

Organisers said all tickets would be refunded over the coming weeks and a Crowdfunder page had also been set up for donations or to re-pledge refunded money.