Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Fundraising marathon man in snail suit sacked after raising less than it cost to complete

A fundraiser who “crawled” the London Marathon dressed as Brian the Snail from the Magic Roundabout has been sacked from his charity job for not raising enough money.



Former firefighter Lloyd Scott, 49, , who has collected more than £5 million in charity since recovering from leukaemia 20 years ago, lay on a trolley and pulled himself along in his heavy costume at a rate of one mile day. He suffered almost constant nosebleeds and vomiting in the month it took him to complete the course.

But taking part in the event cost more than he raised from donations, so his bosses at ­disabled children’s charity Action For Kids sacked him last week as their director of fundraising. He had hoped to raise £200,000, but collected only £19,500. The charity spent £16,000 buying costumes for him and his team and thousands more on a PR company.

Brian the Snail in happier times.

YouTube link.

The charity’s founder Sally Bishop said: “Due to limited ­resources, like all charities, ­Action For Kids must make sure that we make the best possible use of our limited funds. Our priority is always to our donors, and the children and families we support. So it is with regret we had to take this decision.”

No comments: