BUS company staff swapped four wheels for two to support a children’s hospital.

Eighteen workers from Brighton and Hove Bus Company and Metrobus in Crawley rode 200 miles in 24 hours to support the Trevor Mann Baby Unit.

Dave Wright, who works at the Crawley depot organised the ride to pass all of the bus company’s depots - before crossing the channel and finishing at the Eiffel Tower said: “We chose the Trevor Mann baby unit as quite a few colleagues within the company and also friends and family had used the services for which they offer.

“Matt Lynham and his family have used the services of the Trevor Mann unit and they saves their child’s life.

“The donations that we made will be put forward to training two neonatal nurses for the unit at Brighton Hospital, which comes at a staggering cost of £25,000 per nurse.”

The group set off from Crawley depot at 5pm on Friday, caught the 11pm ferry from Newhaven, before continuing from Dieppe on a very crisp morning.

Dave said: “It was epic.

“Arriving in Paris was amazing although I must admit cycling across the Arc Du Triomphe roundabout was a scary challenge.

“It was a hard challenge, but when the pain sets in the thoughts come into your mind about why your doing this and what it will do for other people and that gives you the drive and determination to get through.”

Store person Matt Bishop-Lynham said he was indebted to the Trevor Mann for the care they gave his daughter Fleur when she was born with an undiagnosed rare genetic condition called neonatal alloimune thrombocypetenia. Fleur is now a healthy happy six-year-old.

He said: “The staff on the delivery ward noticed some marks 30 minutes after Fleur was born. they asked the Trevor Mann unit to look at her and found her platelets were dangerously low.

“Within a few hours blood products had been couriered from Bristol for transfusions.

“The staff were faultless in their care for Fleur and for us as new parents, talking us through each procedure.

“they were able to treat her despite her condition not being confirmed until several weeks later.

“Because of the unit’s swift response she is unaffected by her condition as she’s grown.”

“we are indebted to the staff and felt this opportunity organised by Dave and his team at Metrobusand Brighton and Hove Buses was a way of saying thank you.”

Anyone wanting to donate should visit www.justgiving.com/David-Wright128.