A Swaffham fundraiser's 4,000-mile trip to the Arctic Circle in a vintage sports car started badly when the car broke down in Denmark.Friends Peter Pierce, 64, and Adrian Richmond, 55, left Norwich on Wednesday in a 1958 Triumph TR3A sports car.

A Swaffham fundraiser's 4,000-mile trip to the Arctic Circle in a vintage sports car started badly when the car broke down in Denmark.

Friends Peter Pierce, 64, and Adrian Richmond, 55, left Norwich on Wednesday in a 1958 Triumph TR3A sports car.

They hope to reach their destination of Moi Rana, on the edge of the Arctic Circle, in five days.

Mr Pierce, a member of Swaffham Lions Club, is hoping to raise £10,000 for the Parkinson's Disease Society in memory of his friend Les Gower who died after a long struggle with the disease in 2007.

Mr Richmond, who is keeping in touch via email, said: “Thursday went well until we hit the first motorway in Denmark. The car began to misfire and run very badly.

“Peter decided this was a fuel problem so we stopped to check the carburettors and after flushing them out the engine seemed to be running okay.

“But a few kilometres down the road the car just cut out. Peter figured that this was in fact the coil and he had a spare so while I set up warning triangles he lashed the replacement to the old one.

“I tried the starter and this seemed to have cured the problem but the replaced unit was only held on with a tie wrap.

“We visited a garage, explained the problem and with the help of his Polish mechanic they fixed up the coil with a proper fixing instead of the tape we had used.”

The pals have already raised more than £6,000 for the Parkinson's Disease Society. To donate, log on to the website www.justgiving.com/articrun