A COUPLE saw first-hand the “desperation” of Syrian refugees after driving 1,800 miles to deliver aid.

In just 10 days Chris and Brittany Price raised £2,000 to fund travel costs and collected 84 boxes of clothing and blankets before driving from their home in New Street, Bicester, to Greece, to personally hand it out.

After hearing about the refugees’ plight from friends living in Greece the pair decided to help.

They appealed to friends and fellow members of the congregation at Highway Christian Church, in Marsh Gibbon, to donate winter clothing.

Using the church’s minibus, Mr and Mrs Price, 27, drove in relays for 23 hours across France and Switzerland to Milan in Italy.

Mr Price, 30, said: “It was absolutely stuffed – literally there wasn’t a single empty space within the van by the time we had finished packing it.”

Once in Milan the couple stopped before continuing their drive to Bari where they caught a ferry to the Greek island of Igoumenitsa.

Their final destination was a refugee camp in Thessaloniki, where their friends are based.

The camp is run jointly by Unicef and the Red Cross and is on the border between Greece and Macedonia.

Half of the supplies were delivered to a central store and the couple handed out the rest themselves.

Mr Price said: “We distributed our lot and for a very short amount of time we felt it was very rewarding, we felt proud of ourselves for what we had done.

“I can’t count the number of guys who came up to me to thank me and shook my hand.”

But he said the aid they had driven thousands of miles with was a “drop in the ocean” of what was needed.

Mr Price said: “In the two to three hours we were in the camp, close to 1,000 refugees came in.”

Mr Price said the majority of refugees were from Syria and had been caught up in the conflict there.

He said: “They arrive after crossing dangerous seas cold, wet and hungry with no belongings, that’s why they are so desperate for it.”

Mr Price said after travel expenses they were able to leave £400 with their friends to buy medication for refugees.

The couple are now looking at the logistics of organising another aid trip on a bigger scale.