A Surbiton man has smashed a world record by visiting all 275 London Underground stations in one go.

Geoff Marshall, 29, who lives in Adelaide Road was joined by Jo O'Donnell, 32, (pictured right) for the 19 hours, 35 minutes and 43 seconds of their journey.

The route, starting from Chesham station in North London at 5.23am on Thursday, June 27, remains a closely guarded secret but a photograph was taken at every station and a log kept of arrival and departure times.

Their final stop was Morden at around 1am the following day.

The exhausted travellers beat the previous record by 23 minutes by running from platform to platform and meeting friends with food and refreshments at stations along the way to avoid stopping.

The effort, inspired by Tunnel Visions, a film Mr Marshall watched last year, raised £3,000 for Cancer Research UK.

Mr Marshall, an IT professional, said: "I was very impressed with people's response and the support we got. People were trying to give us money but you are not allowed to collect on a train so I was giving out my e-mail address and telling them if they still wanted to sponsor me to get in touch."

But while many people may find the prospect of spending nearly an entire day on the Tube repulsive, Mr Marshall is already contemplating another journey to break his own record.

He said: "There were one or two moments when we just missed trains by a few seconds.

"I think with my route, which I am keeping very secret, I could do it even faster. I haven't got any leave left this year but maybe in May next year I will have another go. People will think I am crazy."

July 12, 2002 10:30