Kind-hearted bus driver to walk Arriva's 110 route from Wakefield to Leeds in aid of The Trussell Trust

Neil Atherton, 44, who works as a MyDrive lead training bus drivers in Arriva’s technical systems, has so far raised more than £11,000 for the charity by walking popular bus routes.

Having worked for Arriva for 23 years and has been nicknamed the Bus Walker. Neil, from Widnes in Cheshire, has already walked 260 miles of Merseyside’s bus routes in 2021 and 2022.

But this month, he’s putting his walking boots on again and walking Arriva bus routes from north to south across seven UK regions – starting in Durham and ending in London, spanning 126 miles.

And on Monday, July 10, Neil will be walking 12 miles on the 110 route from Wakefield to Leeds.

During that week, he will have clocked up an impressive 126 miles. He will be joined along the way by his local Arriva colleagues, who will be supporting him each step of the way.

Neil said: “In my job, I speak to people who are struggling to make ends meet and I know many of them rely on food banks to feed themselves and their families.

“I’m determined to do my little part to make sure people have the food they need. Hopefully, by walking some of the UK’s most popular bus routes and raising awareness of the scale of poverty face by millions of families, I can encourage those with a little more to give a thought to those with a little less.”

Cora Woodhouse, marketing and customer services director for Arriva, said: “We are all really proud of Neil and everything he’s achieved so far.

"He’s a shining example of living our core values at Arriva, which are caring passionately about the people we serve, doing the right thing and finding ways to make a difference.

“We’re all wishing him the very best of luck with his next bus route walk and we hope he can raise even more money for charity.”

Neil’s fundraiser can be found here: https://www.justgiving.com/page/buswalker-the-lastride.