Greedy commuters have put a community book swapping scheme in jeopardy by loading up on free books and not returning them.

Eco-Op and Transition Town Kingston (TTK) set up the mini library scheme at Kingston station so people could borrow books and return them when they were finished.

But some people have been abusing the system, with one person caught filling up a carrier bag full of donations, some of which were fairly new.

Excess books from the Fircroft charity shop are dropped at the station, but the charity’s generosity has backfired.

Former councillor Bart Rickets, who helped set up the scheme with TTK’s Majeed Neky, said: “It’s a real shame that a few individuals are abusing the scheme.

“It’s a great thing for the community and commuters, but unfortunately the idea of David Cameron’s Big Society cannot work without people backing it.”

Labels have been added to the books to encourage people not to take them and sell them, but there is talk of requesting donations or putting a book sale in the station instead.