Boris Bike taken on gruelling trip to France and returned with seconds to spare

. Credit: YouTube

Three friends managed to take a Boris bike on a trip up a French mountain before returning it with just 22 seconds to spare before the 24-hour rental limit expired.

  • Matthew Winstone, Ian Laurie and Robert Holden paid the £2 daily hire charge for the bike, which they took from New Kent Road in Southwark at 3.58am on October 26

  • They then took it by van through the Eurotunnel and drove to Mont Ventoux where Robert Holden, from Teddington, pedalled the bike to the top

  • The group managed to get the bike back to London by 3.57am the following day - just in time to avoid the £150 Transport for London fee for going over 24 hours

Mont Ventoux became infamous when cyclist Tommy Simpson died of exhaustion just short of the summit in 1967.

Tom Simpson memorial statue on the Mont Ventoux Credit: Pre

Eddie Merckx needed oxygen after winning the climb in 1970 and this year Britain's Chris Froome took a famous stage victory there on his way to winning the Tour de France.

The challenge, which was in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support was filmed and uploaded to YouTube.