A DONATION of clothes to a Pembrokeshire charity shop has turned into an expensive wardrobe malfunction for a local family.

Packing up garments in readiness for a house move, Caroline Ross accidentally included many of her husband’s and son’s clothes in the ten bags of items she was taking to the Haverfordwest branch of Barnardo’s.

They included several top-brand and little-used outdoor coats and jackets, worth together around £2,000, by manufacturers including Montane, Musto and Realtree.

Mrs Ross, of Saundersfoot, realised her mistake within 24 hours and contacted the shop the following morning.

But the expensive garments have yet to be found, despite “all possible checks” being made by the charity.

“I am so upset about this,” Mrs Ross told the Western Telegraph.

“I was told that a lot of the clothes I donated had gone to Barnardo’s holding warehouse.

“Yet a number of the other items I donated were out for sale on the shop floor.

“To say that I am extremely annoyed is an understatement. I cannot believe that this has happened.

“As far as I can ascertain, the clothes have not appeared in the holding warehouse in Aberdare, so where have they gone?”

Mrs Ross has since been given three "unsaleable" items from her husband’s and son’s clothing back from the shop, together with a number of coat hangers which were in the bags.

She added: “What I would like to know is where do the clothes go that do not go on the shop floor and do not get sent to there warehouse, as the listed jackets didn't seem to appear anywhere. These were very high quality brand names; very expensive items of clothing.”

A Barnardo’s spokesperson said: "Barnardo's are incredibly grateful for the donations kindly donated by the public. Donated items are very quickly processed in our stores. We are committed to raising as much as possible from every donation, the profits of which are invested straight back into our work with the UK's most vulnerable and disadvantaged children. Customer demand is high, therefore items donated are often sold very quickly or moved to other stores to sell. Unfortunately, we have no way of tracking donations once they have been received. We have implemented all possible checks to find the items that the donor wishes to retrieve with some success. The other items appear to have been sold."