San-iT Support the Big Charity Drive 2016

After 4 days driving across 4 different countries, we’re very happy to say that our Managing Director Barry has returned back from the Big Charity Drive in one piece (although we can’t say the same about Jess the Jag…!)

We caught up with him to find out more about how him and the team got on…

Four Days, Four Countries, Two Breakdowns!

Taking place from 11th -14th September 2016, San-iT were just 1 of 20 teams taking on the Big Charity Drive challenge. The aim of the event is to drive from Manchester to Chemnitz in Germany to raise vital funds for the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital #TimeSaveLives Helipad Appeal.

San-iT completed the drive in partnership with ADAM Recruitment and other participants including OVGroup. The teams are required to complete the challenge in a car that is worth less than £1,000, and our vehicle of choice was a Jaguar S Type aka ‘Jess the Jag’!

After getting off to a good start, the team encountered a few problems on the way! Barry filled us in on exactly what happened…

“We broke down in Belgium and had to sell the car to a local garage, we then jumped in one of the other guy’s cars (which was a squeeze to say the least!) which then broke down over the Germany border which resulted in us diverting to Antwerp where we stayed the night.

We then had to get a train to Amsterdam and a flight to Manchester which was diverted to Luton because of the storms. We remained grounded on the plane for two hours before being told we had to make our own way back to Manchester at which point we hired a minibus with seven others and drove to Manchester returning home at 2am Wednesday morning!”

Despite a few logistical issues, it sounds like the Big Charity Drive was a great experience and collectively the teams will have raised in excess of 25k for charity! Amazing! Well done to all.

If you’d like to find out more about the Big Charity Drive and how you can support the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Helipad Appeal visit the website here.