A VETERAN'S mission to raise £100,000 for Help for Heroes has been given a boost by a North-East car dealership.

Phil Bartlett, of Spennymoor, plans to run 268 miles in 18 days this month to boost a fundraising initiative which he has been hard at work on for eight years.

Now thanks to SG Petch Durham, he has a support vehicle to get him to the starting line of his Garrison Gallop challenge in Colchester.

Mr Bartlett said: "This is a fantastic help for me. It's not just a vehicle to get us there but will act as a support vehicle which means at the end of each day this will take me back to the hotel before the next leg the next day.

"It will be carrying medical supplies and water and will be there if anything happens to me.

"It will also protect me from traffic."

The vehicle has been decorated to promote the 59-year-old's Garrison Gallop challenge which will see him set off from Chavasse House, in Colchester Garrison, on Monday, August 13.

He hopes to arrive at the finish line at Catterick Garrison, in North Yorkshire, on his 60th birthday on Thursday, August 30.

Ex-serviceman Darren Borland, of SG Petch Durham, on Belmont Industrial Estate, said: "Help for Heroes is a cracking cause and it deserves all the help and support it can get."

To sponsor Mr Bartlett visit justgiving.com/fundraising/garrisongallop