Three friends from Okehampton have been driving more than 1,500 miles from St Austell to Italy in a fun banger rally which finishes tonight (Thursday) in Pompeii.

Louis Enderson, Chris Luxton and Darren Goodwin set off in their old Mazda 6 from St Austell on Saturday in this year’s Banger Rally Challenge ‘Pompeii or Bust’.

The trio, all current or past members of Okehampton Round Table, are raising money for local defibrillator charity Oke PADS and the Devon Air Ambulance Trust. The charities are close to their hearts as Louis, an electrician, has been involved in setting up a public access defibrillators in the town while Darren is a Devon Air Ambulance paramedic. They have already raised more than £1,000 on Go Fund Me page ‘Okehampton to Pompeii or Bust’. The banger rally challenge involves driving 1,535 miles in five days across France, Switzerland and Italy, with each day’s itinerary only revealed on the morning by the organisers.

Louis said: ‘There are 145 teams taking part, all supporting different charities. We’re funding the trip ourselves so everything we raise is going to the two charities. It is a very quirky rally and good fun. 'You can only spent a maximum of £500 on the car which we have done minimal work to. We had to let it stop and have a rest and it is clanging and banging a bit but it is doing all right. Some people are driving back after the rally but most are scrapping the cars and then flying back – that’s what we are planning to do.'

Thanking those who have supported them, Louis added: ‘Chris has done the rally before and he’s been pestering us to do it. We have said “no” for the past couple of years but this year we really thought we ought to – and it has been fantastic fun.’