Staff in an Ayrshire restaurant received a torrent of abuse which left them "in tears" after offering free meals to NHS workers. 

The Brae restaurant in Irvine announced yesterday that they were offering free ready meals to NHS staff on the front line of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They also announced a further 25% off all other purchases with the business to help support those fighting the virus. 

However, it was reported in The Herald that owner Iain Mason had to deal with a wave of abuse and cruel messages following the announcement as people demanded they too receive free food. 

He told The Herald: "We've had so many people get in touch over private message and even phone calls asking 'why aren't you giving us the same'.

"They say it's not just the NHS that is helping people, and we should be giving it out to others as well.

"We'd love to help everyone, but we just can’t. We're a small business and we just want to do what we can."

In an emotional post on Facebook, the business posted: "Wow! We were trying to do a nice thing for the vital front line staff of the NHS but have already revived a flurry of abuse and complaints."

It said it was "haemorrhaging" money on a daily basis, explaining that was why it could not help everyone, adding: "My wife is currently in tears from all the messages we have already had. It's not that we don't value other services it's simply we do not have the capacity to help."

Despite the onslaught of abuse, the team also received a huge amount of support. Mason told The Herald: "So much of the feedback has been amazing, but there's always a few that fall through the cracks," he said.

"We all have to help each other just now."