Up to 25 jobs will be lost when the meals on wheels service in Tendring changes hands.

The depot in Kirby Cross will also be closed and the service will be run from Colchester as part of the reshuffle.

The Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) has won a five-year contract to serve the whole of Essex, which includes Tendring for the first time.

Staff at the Chatsworth Farm site in Kirby Cross, run by Fresh Community Meals (Fresh CM), were this week told most of them would be made redundant from October 1.

One delivery driver, who asked not to be named, said: "Most of the ladies who do the job have a rapport with the people they are working with.

"There are going to be difficulties with the traffic in the summer and the extremities of the district.

"They are going to be confronted with people they do not know. It is a bad situation for the elderly and vulnerable."

Andy Wickham, WRVS operations manager for Essex, said: "We are absolutely delighted to get the contract.

"It will not have any impact on the service users in the Tendring area who will get a fresh hot meal delivered daily with the same level of care."

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