A group of colleagues at a publishing company are planning to scale the highest mountains in England, Scotland and Wales to raise money for charity.

Twelve people at Elsevier, based in Langford Lane, Kidlington, have signed up to take part in the Three Peaks Challenge in aid of UK-based medical aid agency Merlin.

However, the member of staff who originally proposed the hike will no longer be able to take part - she has broken her ankle.

IT worker Chris Hall, 38, said the group, which has formed two teams, was hoping to raise a minimum of £3,000 for the charity - and were aiming for a target of £5,000.

Mr Hall, who lives in Horspath, said: "We are doing reasonably well on the fundraising front so far. We have got some promised donations which should take our overall figure up to about £3,000 already.

"We have got a couple of people who are reasonably fit because they are young but the rest of us are going to just give it our best shot."

The walkers have been training together and went to Wales to have a go at climbing Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, in advance of their fundraising challenge on September 1.

Mr Hall said: "We managed to get up and down Snowdon in four hours.

"While it was lovely and sunny in Oxford, we were doing it in torrential rain and gale-force winds.

"It was definitely an eye opener. None of us has done anything like this before and I am really looking forward to it."

They are also planning to climb Scafell Pike in the Lake District, England's tallest peak, a week before the event, as they will not have an opportunity to see it in daylight during the challenge.

They will see the third mountain, Ben Nevis, for the first time during the actual event.

To successfully complete the challenge, the two teams have 24 hours to climb all three mountains and will have to drive more than 430 miles between each peak and scale a total of 3,400 metres of rugged terrain.