THOUSANDS of pounds has been donated by company directors inspired by fundraising efforts of a father.

Colin Hartness and Duncan Crocker were motivated to back the MRI scanner appeal for Darlington Memorial and Bishop Auckland Hospitals after Mr Hartness' father began fundraising with the Barnard Castle Rotary.

Mr Hartness said: “I couldn’t leave it to my dad who set up his very first justgiving page to do the fundraising. We’ve a lot of our staff live over in County Durham and Duncan lives in Darlington, so it was important to us that we became involved.”

Mr Crocker, of Fast Track Reclaim, said: “Our PA Nicola Mealing is passionate about fundraising so she became inspirational in organising a raffle, selling tickets to our staff and pulling in some fantastic prizes including spa breaks.

"Nicola and the staff in Fast Track House raised £1,205 through the raffle and as a business, we decided to match fund that amount.”

Fundraisers can call Pat Chambers on 07770-455651.