Lonely or debt-ridden Bradford folk have been flooding a charity with cries for help.

The Samaritans in Bradford have had an exceptionally busy Christmas answering calls from desperate people. Volunteers have seen an upsurge in the numbers of people contacting them because of financial difficulties.

The Samaritans' Bradford publicity officer Seb Abbasi said volunteers had been "rushed off their feet" over the festive period.

"We have had a minimum of two volunteers working every shift 24 hours a day throughout Christmas and they have had to take on additional duties in order to answer all the calls," said Mr Abbasi.

"They have been so busy during some shifts they haven't been able to engage in dialogue among themselves. It was one call after another."

Mr Abbasi said calls to them had increased since last weekend and continued throughout Christmas.

He said: "It is to be expected at this time of year. It is a time when people need more support. When someone is alone the stark realisation of that hits home at Christmas.

"They feel severely isolated and desperately needing support and human contact, somebody to say We are here for you'.

"We do support the suicidal but quite often we hear from someone who simply hasn't had the chance to speak to another human being. They feel entirely on their own.

"Christmas is also a reminder of family members who have passed away. It is especially hard when it is the first year without them. We obviously cannot go into individual details but there are always harrowing calls which affect us because we are only human too."

Mr Abbasi said debt had been a big issue.

He said: "The effects of debt are apparent on a daily basis. In general there are an increasing number of people who call us with regard to money-related problems in one form or another.

"Probably 20 per cent of our calls now are debt-related. Many people we hear from are generally indebted or have to make certain payments they believe they haven't got a cat in hell's chance of meeting. They are having to face the consequences of perhaps having their homes repossessed, being evicted and ultimately being made homeless.

"My full-time job is working with a debt advisory line and we are seeing very high numbers of people coming to us for advice, and debt management insolvencies are rapidly increasing. At the Samaritans in the last six months there has been a huge increase in the number of callers needing immediate assistance, with many creditors pursuing them."