A FORMER paratrooper has spent this week delivering 52,000 poppies after a lack of volunteers left shops in Blackbird Leys without any to sell.

Dad-of-three Simon Elliston, from Blackbird Leys, tried in vain over the weekend to buy a poppy on the estate.

But the Royal British Legion says it simply did not have enough people to get the boxes out to everyone in Oxford on time.

Mr Elliston 36, said: “I couldn’t find them anywhere. I went to all the local shops to ask, but they said they hadn’t been able to get hold of anyone.

“Then when I went to Tesco and they hadn’t had any, I decided to ring the Royal British Legion and do something about it.”

The Poppy Appeal, which aims to raise more than £40m for members of the armed forces and their families, was launched on Friday. But not enough drivers came forward to deliver boxes of poppies to Blackbird Leys, Littlemore or Sandford-on-Thames.

Mr Elliston said: “I realised that if I didn’t do anything, no one would. So, before I knew it, I had 38 boxes and 52,000 poppies in my car. A lot of the shops I went to even told me off, saying I was late this year.”

Money from the Poppy Appeal helps former forces members with practical and emotional support for the rest of their lives.

Mr Elliston was as a paratrooper from 1993 until 1998, based in Aldershot and served in Cyprus, Bosnia and the Falkland Islands.

He now lives in Blackbird Leys with his partner Maddi Cox and Kieran, eight, Connor, five and six-week-old Ellie-Louise.

He said: “I consider myself very lucky because I didn’t see combat.

“We were trained for it but those guys and girls out in Afghanistan, they’re real heroes. I’ve got mates from when I was in the Army who have now lost their limbs because of what happened there and in Iraq.

“I saw a guy recently and I asked if he was ok. He was not, only days earlier he’d seen his best mate blown up in Afghanistan. You could see it in his face.

“So I always get a tear in my eye on Remembrance Day.”

Headington and Cowley Poppy Appeal organiser Terry Cox said: “The fact is that people are getting too old to do this job and it’s a big job to take on.

“There are now two of us covering 300 fundraising tins in this area and we are trying our best not to let the appeal down.

“But we need more people to take a leaf out of Simon’s book and get involved – he’s been absolutely brilliant.”

The poppies have now been distributed around south Oxford and Mr Elliston plans to do the same again next year.

He said: “There are so many people on this estate, that’s a lot of money for the Legion.

“And I know how important that money is.

“ Even the boys got excited, going off to school with their poppies and telling off friends who didn’t have one.”

Donate online at poppy.org.uk/support-us/give-money