Toyota Yaris DRIVING from Chatteris to Tokyo for BBC Children in Need

Two employees from a Cambridgeshire Toyota Performance specialists are embarking on a road trip to Japan in a 16-year old Toyota Yaris to raise funds for BBC Children in Need.

The BBC Children in Need Telethon has become a national institution since it launched in 1980, in the process raising almost £1 billion, thanks in no small part to the wit and energy of the late Terry Wogan.

Despite the loss of the most famous Irishman of his generation, BBC Children in Need still managed a record result of over £60 million raised in 2017, and this year’s TV outing in November hopes to raise even more.

Good-hearted people find ever more daft ideas to raise money for the worthy charity every year, and this year one of the plans is to drive from Cambridgeshire to Japan in a Toyota Yaris.

Now you might have though a brand new Yaris would be a slightly mad car to choose, rather than something more butch from the Toyota stable, but two likely lads – Dan Handley and Dave Brooks – from a Toyota specialist in Chatteris, have made it even tougher for themselves by embarking on the trip this weekend in a 16-year old Yaris, bought for £1,000 with a donation from local Toyota dealer Steven Eagell Toyota.

The duo reckon the Yaris will be easy to repair as they drive from Chatteris to Tokyo, heading first across Europe to Turkey and then heading for Vladivostok at the other end of Russia to catch a ferry to Japan via South Korea. Leaving this weekend they hope to hit Tokyo by 5 October.

It’s a fun idea for a good cause, so pop over to their website at www.chatteris2tokyo.com and pledge a bit of support.