WARRINGTON colleagues have raised over £1,000 by driving hundreds of miles for a workplace charity.

Members of the Warrington Parts Plus centre for TrustFord in Winwick Road came together and completed a driving challenge for Ben, a charity which helps to improve the physical and mental health of those working in the automotive industry.

The team, along with 51 others from TrustFord set off from its national fleet distribution centre in Warwickshire on Thursday December 6 to travel as far as they safely could in 25 hours, driving specially branded new Ford Focus or Ford Tourneo vehicles.

The four Warrington colleagues managed to drive 604 miles to John O’Groats in Scotland.

Michael Harris, 33, a workshop controller at the centre explained: “All four of us that took part know the fantastic work done by Ben and we all found ourselves putting our names in the hat as soon as we could.”

The other team members picked out to participate were Sam Lindley from vehicle sales and two technicians, Andrew Boyle and Gary Neild.

The Warrington team managed to create the most buzz online, winning the prize for most likes on social media and helping them to raise £974.50, which contributed to the impressive total of £110,000 raised overall.

Stuart Foulds, chairman and chief executive of TrustFord, said: "Ben is an incredibly important charity that has helped thousands of colleagues over the years, so we are proud to have been able to support its work.

"Our Breakout for Ben challenge is the largest single fundraising event we’ve ever completed as a group and was a huge team effort.

"I’m glad the teams had fun on the road and returned safely with many tales to tell friends and family of their adventures for this very worthy cause!"

To donate to Breakout for Ben visit the JustGiving page here.