A charity has closed its head office for the day after receiving a tip-off about planned 'anti-vaccination protests' outside its office.

Involve Kent, which provides social care activities across the county, and is based in Maidstone, is providing a telephone information service about vaccines, sparking backlash from those against the jabs.

About 15 people gathered in Turkey Mill Court Business Park, where the charity operates, on a pavement and the edge of a car park.

The group were not disruptive and were chatting among themselves when KentOnline's reporter was on the scene.

They visited the Involve Kent office to leave some material and a letter, which was accepted by a staff member who was still on site, the charity's chief executive, Charlotte Osborn-Forde said.

She added that there was "no protest or disruption".

One member of the group said it was not a protest but a "peaceful gathering".

Another woman denied the group were anti-vaxxers, saying they were here to promote the "yellow card system".

The Yellow Card website says it is a site for reporting adverse drug reactions, or incidents involving medical devices, adverse incidents, and defective medicines.

Another group member said he was against people being forced to take drugs.

Charlotte Osborn-Forde said: "Involve Kent is a charity providing services to the most vulnerable and socially excluded people in society.

"We are supporting the NHS through provision of a Telephone information service for vaccination, to ensure people without internet access or who do not speak English, can get information about the vaccine and how to access it.

"We always promote choice and only share NHS information which is publicly available online, to ensure no one if left behind.

"Involve Kent offices regularly close as the majority of our staff work in the community or from home, and we aim to minimise risk of Covid transmission.

"A small group of people visited our office in Maidstone today to leave some material and a letter, this was accepted by a staff member who was on site, there was no protest or disruption."

Dougie Lawson, director at Turkey Mill Investments Ltd, said the staff at Involve Kent had decided to stay at home after a freelance journalist contacted them, saying he had seen a post on an anti-vaccination website about meeting outside the office at 3pm today.

Before that, they had received what was described as a "strange phone call", asking about the company.

Mr Lawson said he had alerted the police about a planned demonstration, and they had advised him to ring 999 if there was trouble.

Speaking about Involve Kent, he said: "They are a charity and one of the best tenants.

"They do so much work, a lot of it is by volunteers.

"I think they picked up a job to encourage vaccines among people who have not been vaccinated."

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