Tuk tuk trek length of country

IT'S a fair old way from Land's End to John O'Groats however you travel.

But it must seem even further when you're doing the journey by tuk tuk.

That's what three men are doing, however, to raise money for Nottingham City Hospital.

The three – Sanjay Sharma, Johnny Mistry and Kel Osborne – don't plan on making particularly good time in their motorised rickshaw.

The tuk tuk usually ferries people around Nottingham for Sanjay's private hire taxi service, Nottingham Tuktuks – and has an average speed of 15mph.

They set out for Lands End, towing the tuk tuk behind the support vehicle, on Saturday. And yesterday the journey started in earnest.

They plan to rotate the driving, doing two hours at a time. They'll sleep in the vehicles or a tent. The goal is to reach their destination later this week, but the schedule can't really get much more specific than that.

Their blog yesterday read: "The trailer we have is causing us some distress at the moment and we are being slowed down by it. In fact the tuk tuk is simply out performing the car!"

The three are making the drive in honour of Kel's father, Keith Osborne, who died of cancer in March and are raising money for the oncology unit at Nottingham City Hospital. "They supplied him with Zimmer frames, things that you never really even think of," said Kel, from Nottingham. "We just want to give something back, really.

"The target was £1,500," added Sanjay, of Wollaton. "We're on the way to beat that. But if we could double it, that would be fantastic."

Sanjay worked out the details of the trip, Kel said, and then convinced the others it would work. They set about making little repairs to the tuk tuk and mapping out routes that avoided motorways.

"We can all drive it," Kel said, "but Sanjay's the main man."

In their post optimistic predictions, they're even reckoning that they could make John O' Groats by midweek.

"Possibly, we think Wednesday night," Kel said. "Hopefully."

For information on the trio's fundraising, visit www.justgiving.com/landsendtojohnogroatsinatuktuk. They are also keeping a blog of their adventures. Read it at www.landsendtojohnogroatsonatuktuk.blogspot.com.

erik.petersen@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk