A TEAM of colleagues from a garage in Barnsley have driven for more than a day to help raise £100,000 for an automotive charity.
Matthew Cleland, 25, who is a parts advisor at TrustFord Barnsley, was joined by three technicians, Tom Goldthorpe, Joe Braithwaite and Sebastian Stokes, to drive as far as they could in 25 hours to raise money for Ben, an independent charity that provides support for life to its people and their family dependants.
The challenge was set by the TrustFord chairman and CEO Stuart Foulds.
Stuart said: “Ben is an incredibly important charity to all of us in the automotive industry and it has helped thousands of colleagues over the years.
“Our Breakout for Ben challenge is the largest single fundraising event we’ve ever completed as a group and a huge undertaking “I’m hugely proud of the team effort that has helped us raise a great total. I hope the teams had fun on the road, and look forward to hearing about their adventures in raising as much money as they can.”
To help them get on the road and raise as much money as possible, TrustFord provided the team with fully fuelled vehicles, branded with the TrustFord Breakout for Ben logo.
They also got a £400 allowance to spend on fuel, food and accommodation.
In line with TrustFord’s ‘Spirit of Care’, team members will not be required to use their annual leave time to participate.
The team set off on December 6 at 11am and the challenge finished last Friday at noon.
Before they set off, Matthew said he hoped he’d reach as far as the Balkans and the team revealed that they reached Gyor, in Hungary, 1,179 miles away from Barnsley.
Matthew said: “Barnsley may have a slight advantage as I have just got back from 10 days driving through Europe passing through France, Swiss Alps, Italy and Germany.
“So on my second drive through Europe this year, this time in the name of charity, we were confident we could reach as far as the Balkans.”
