A newsagent has raised £200 to support a martial arts club which he says helps keeps kids out of trouble.

Jaymin Rana, of Springbok Newsagents in Browning Road, Manor Park, decided to raise the money after equipment owned by the club and its students was damaged in a flood last July.

Although the The Eskf Sanda Chinese Kick Boxing club, run by Ahmed Khan, did recieve some compensation it did not cover the cost all the damaged equipment.

The 38-year-old, who collected contributions from customers said: “All the kids will go to his class, they come to my shop and I have seen them grow up.

“If they were not doing martial arts they would be out on the road hanging on the corner.

“If you would have seen them before when they came in the shop they had a chip on their shoulder.

“I have seen a lot of change, there is a lot of discipline in martial arts.”

Ahmed Khan, 39, who has run the club in Church Road, Manor Park for the past three years said he was said he was touched by the gesture.

“I just thought wow,” he said. “It came as a big surprise.”

He said that he did not know how much the club meant to the community until he needed their help.

When the club flooded last summer people rallied around which meant that he did not have to turn students away.

He said: “I thought they were strangers in my house but they took over and helped me and everything. They were helping me.

“They had the idea to push out the water.”

“The amount of people that were helping me push out water, we were able to open the next day.”

Jaymin said his customers were happy to donate to such a worthwile project.

He added: “They knew it was going straight to the community.”