A charity cycle ride has been jeopardised by the theft of a participant's passport 48 hours before departure.

Chris Jeffery and Nat Cockburn, both 21, are due to leave on Wednesday for a six-week, 2,000-mile trip around Europe. But they awoke yesterday to find Mr Jeffery's passport had been stolen overnight from Mr Cockburn home in Bullingdon Road, Cowley, Oxford.

Mr Jeffery, who has just finished studying politics, philosophy and economics at University College, had been staying with his friend, who is still a student at the college.

They feared the trip - which will raise £4,000 in total for Hope and Homes for Children, a charity working in eastern Europe and Africa, and Help, a group providing ante-natal care in India - would have to be cancelled or postponed.

But they now hope Mr Jeffery can get a temporary passport.