A Surrey Road Policing Officer has donated the tiny 30p compensation he received after being assaulted on active duty.

PC Paul Church was assaulted while on active duty around five years ago.

Surrey Police said Tuesday (April 2) that he only received a compensation cheque through the post as recently as last week.

They added that the compensation money on the cheque totalled just 30 pence.

In a post from March 25 liked hundreds of times by users on micro-blogging site Twitter, Surrey Road Police Unit (RPU) showed what appeared to be an image of the cheque PC Church received, highlighting its bizarre value of 30p.

In a statement posted to Facebook, Surrey Police said: "PC Paul Church has been part of Surrey Police for 17 years, working in our Roads Policing Unit for 11 of them.

"He’s used to surprises, as they’re often part of the job. However, last month he received a rather unexpected piece of post. It was a compensation cheque for being assaulted on duty five years ago, and came to the grand total of… 30p."

Surrey Police added that PC Church had received the remarkable sum with good humour, and decided to donate it towards the Air Ambulance service in the hope of attraction bigger donations following the attention generated by the story.

Surrey Police said: "While the assault had long since faded from memory, he and others were quick to see the funny side. He tweeted about the ‘life-changing’ windfall from the RPU Twitter account, which was picked up by a number of others, including UK Cop Humour.

"He received numerous offers to auction the cheque off for more substantial amounts of money, but decided instead to set up a JustGiving page for Air Ambulance Kent Surrey Sussex."

PC Church's JustGiving page has since received several more substantial donations.

In a short description posted to the page, PC Church said: "I recently received a cheque for 30p which is part payment for compensation relating to an assault on duty over 5 years ago. I have received many kind offers from across the globe (well, UK anyway) to make up the amount to enable me to purchase a "Freddo" or similar...

"Generous members of public who felt moved by the above have asked what charity they could send a donation to so thought I'd create an official page for a deserving charity we work closely with..."

To donate to PC Church's page and the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance Trust, visit: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/CoppersAndChoppers