STAFF at vehicle leasing firm Arval stepped up their support for road safety charity Brake earlier this week when members of staff took time out of their lunchbreaks to complete a 5km run in memory of a schoolboy who lost his life earlier this year.

Lending their support to the Doing it for Dan campaign, the employees pulled on their running shoes to brave the cold and work up a sweat in memory of Bridlewood Primary pupil Daniel Climance who lost his life earlier this year in a road traffic collision.

Daniel died in June following a collision with a roadsweeper while bike riding with his father and older brother in Purton.

The event was staged as a number of groups around Swindon and Wiltshire staged their own virtual 5k runs in memory of Dan as part of Road Safety Week which runs until the end of this week. To date more than £8,700 has been raised in Dan’s memory.

Brake road safety ambassador at Arval Tracey Fuller said the company was eager to back the campaign, having been involved with the charity Brake for a number of years.

She said: “We have 120,000 vehicles on the road in the UK and we are really into promoting safe driving and safe road use and we have been corporate partners with Brake for more than eight years.

“It obviously hit our community massively when Dan died, and for me personally my daughter goes to the same school that Dan went to, so we all know Dan’s family and people close to the family that have been affected.

“It just felt right to link the work we are doing with brake with the Doing it for Dan campaign.”

She revealed that Arval normally runs a number of free exercise classes throughout the week for their staff, but this week employees were being asked to pay £5 to take part to add to the fundraising target.

Joining Tracey for the run – which she revealed was likely to see her walking like a senior citizen for the remainder of the week – was Daniel’s mum Helen Lucas.

Tracey said: “Helen ran with me, it was a bit emotional, but also really uplifting. Helen is very proud to be involved and also vert humbled by all of the support and wants to do as much as she can to say thank you.

“She is an incredibly inspiring and courageous lady.”

To support the Doing it for Dan campaign visit www.justgiving.com/Claire-Smart10.