A GROUP of banger racers have made it home after hitting the road for charity to raise £5,500.

Seven drivers and mechanics from The Levellers team set off from Ulverston destined for Benidorm earlier this month.

They completed the 1,523-mile drive in just six days in their green and pink Vauxhall Omega limousine.

Howard Walker, who helped lead the team into the event, said: "The trip went really well. Everyone really enjoyed it and I think it was a big success.

"The best part of it was probably just the general craic and fun in the car all the way.

"The only problem we had was an issue with our coil pack before we reached anywhere near London, but other than that we had no breakdowns and it all went well.

"We scrapped the car for €100 when we reached Benidorm and we flew back."

The team, consisting of captain Wayne Morphet, Lagan Danson, Wayne Joyce, John Kirkbride, Daniel Wilkinson, Jason Todd as well as Mr Walker, set off from Ulverston on Tuesday May 2, reaching Benidorm six days later.

Mr Walker said: "As a group we wanted to do something like this for quite a while, and we were just looking for the right one and the right time.

"We thought it would be good craic and we saw this one and decided to go for it because we could try to raise some money for charity.

"The timing was just right for this one and for us all to be able to do it."

Getting into the spirit of the competition, they left Cumbria dressed as Where's Wally.

Mr Walker said: "It was just an added bit of fun to do it in fancy dress so we all dressed up as Where's Wally before we set off.

"There was a few different competitions every night when we met up with everyone else doing it, and one of them was for the best fancy dress.

“We didn't win but it was fun to do it anyway."

The group were taking part in the European charity car rally to raise funds for two important local causes.

So far the group has raised more than £5,000, which will be split between the North West Air Ambulance and St Mary's Hospice in Ulverston.

The latter is an important cause after its care of group member Lagan Danson's mum.

Mr Walker said: "We're still gathering all our donations together, but we've raised about £5,500 at the minute, which we're really, really pleased with.

"Obviously as banger racers the Air Ambulance can be really important, so it was an obvious choice to try and support.

"St Mary's is another charity that's close to all our hearts because of how they looked after Lagan's mum.

"We're happy to try and help and get them a little bit of money."