FIVE members of a rehab team are planning a 180-mile cycle ride to raise money to buy one of their volunteers a new wheelchair.

On September 23 the team from Littledale Hall, near Caton, will set off on the bike ride from one national treasure to another - Edinburgh Castle to Lancaster Castle.

They want to raise £5,000 to buy Phil Parker, 35, a volunteer at the therapeutic centre which specialises in drink and drug addiction, a wheelchair which will give him more mobility. Mr Parker suffers from spinal muscular atrophy and hasn’t been able to walk or stand since he was 13 years old.

Littledale director Keith Robertson said: “Phil is a much-loved member of the community and has been volunteering here for the past three years. His current wheelchair is more than 18 years old and has basically seen better days.

"The NHS can’t provide a chair to fit his needs, due to cutbacks the only chair they can provide is a basic one-size-fits all model that is just too big – he can’t operate it for more than a few minutes at a time without causing his back a great deal of pain and it really wears him out.”

The Littledale team taking part in the ride are Mr Robertson, Andy Nardone, Jay Garside, Sandra Ashton and Ste Hurst and they plan to complete the challenge in three days.