A FORMER Army officer who plans to cross the English Channel in a pedal boat for charity, came to the North-East yesterday to test the craft.
Paul Tucker, 59, from Essex, took the boat in which he will make the 24-mile crossing from Dover to Calais, in May, to a survival tank used for offshore industry training, at South Tyneside College, in South Shields.
Mr Tucker is the county field officer for the Royal British Legion - the ex-service personnel's welfare organisation - in Essex.
The money he raises will go towards the charity's work.
Mr Tucker got the idea for pedalling across the Channel when he saw a pedal boat featured in a yachting magazine.
The survival tank simulates difficult sea conditions and he said the boat managed to deal with them.
"I went out in a moderate wind and the boat survived beautifully.''
Mr Tucker will make the crossing bid with an escort but will not be allowed to continue if conditions get too rough.
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