A TEAM of students are planning to ride 1,650 miles around England on bright green retro scooters to raise money for a children’s charity.

David Sutherland, from Berkeley, and his friends Ben Homer, from Cornwall and Adrian Schmieder, from Dorchester, are hoping to raise £4,000 for the NSPCC’s Child’s Voice Appeal by riding around the perimeter of England of a vintage Honda C50.

The men, who met while on an work placement with Delphi Diesel Systems in Gloucester, are getting set for the 10 day trip starting in Lands End on August 21, visiting Bridgwater, Chester, Carlisle, Skegness, Ipswich, Poole and Dartmouth before returning to Lands End on August 30.

David, 20, who is studying mechanical engineering at Bristol City College, said: "We came up with the idea for this challenge while trying to think of fun things to do before starting university in September.

"We chose the NSPCC’s Child’s Voice Appeal straightaway as it's clear from recent media cases that there are many vulnerable children who need protection.

"We tracked down these retro scooters from the 1960s and customised them in NSPCC colours so that we gets lots of attention on the road.

"We aim to cover around 160 miles each day so we hope there is enough mechanical knowledge between us to get all the way round the country without any technical hitches," added David.

The NSPCC is currently trying to raise £1.6 million in the South West to expand their Exeter-based ChildLine service. The Child’s Voice Appeal aims to raise money to recruit more counsellors and bring together ChildLine, online counselling and text services at one base so that children can access help how they want it, when they want it.

Patrick Weaver, NSPCC community fundraising manager, said: "It is wonderful when people come forward with new ideas to help us raise much needed funds, especially when it is a group of young men, challenging the stereotype of their age group.

"ChildLine receives over 2.3 million calls every year, but over one third of these calls cannot be answered due to lack of resources. The boys’ fundraising target of £4,000 would help us to answer an additional 1,000 calls from children in distress or danger."

To sponsor David and the team visit www.justgiving.com/modsroundengland