The first donation came about following Mercedes’ success in last year’s MPG Marathon when pro-driver Mick Linford – a twice former winner of the MPG Marathon – failed by the narrowest of margins to beat the elusive 100mpg barrier which was set by the organisers as the target for a special prize.

The organisers offered a £1,000 charitable donation to any driver taking part who could exceed 100mpg – a feat never before achieved in the history of the UK’s most prestigious economy driving event.

But, in the end, Mick Linford’s amazing performance over the 370-mile course of 99.24mpg in a smart fortwo cdi @PREVIEWEND@was so close to the 100mpg target set by MPG Marathon organiser Ross Durkin that it was decided to present the prize anyway – a cheque for £1,000 to be given to Macmillan Cancer Support.

Ross Durkin, Managing Editor of Fleet World, explained: “We offered a charity donation of £1,000 if anyone could break 100mpg and the smart fortwo cdi came within a whisker of doing so. So close, in fact, that we decided to present the cheque anyway, which was for Mercedes’ chosen charity – Macmillan Cancer Support.

“What I was not expecting was the generosity of Mercedes-Benz themselves who, in an act of great kindness offered to reciprocate our donation with a cheque for £1,000 to be given to the charity of our choice, which is Help for Heroes. This was completely unexpected and both Fleet World and Help for Heroes would like to express our gratitude for this.”

Nick Andrews, Head of Fleet at Mercedes-Benz UK, said: “We were delighted to be able to match the charity offering from Fleet World and felt this was a fitting way to mark the smart fortwo cdi’s hat-trick of wins at the MPG Marathon, and to gracefully bow out of the competition after reaching such a phenomenal result.”