EX-PREMIER League referee Mark Halsey has started his marathon 12-day walk across Britain.

The Bolton-based former official started walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats with seven others yesterday.

Mr Halsey, currently in remission after battling cancer, is raising money for the Steve Prescott Foundation, a charity set up in the name of the former Rugby League star, who died from abdominal cancer in November last year.

Former Wanderers boss and now West Ham manager Sam Allardyce could join Mr Halsey for a leg of the walk, along with fellow football stars Peter Reid, who used to play for Everton, and former Sheffield United and Leeds United manager Neil Warnock.

At the start of the walk, Mr Halsey said: “We are hoping to complete the route in 12 days.

“We are all ready and people can follow our progress on Twitter and give what they can.

“I’ve not set a target, just to raise as much as I can to help all these men, women and children fighting cancer.”

The Steve Prescott Foundation supports the Christie Hospital, the Rugby League Benevolent Fund and the Oxford Intestinal Unit and has so far raised more than £500,000.

For more information on the challenge, visit steveprescottfoundation.co.uk/events/official-events/146-askvas-walk-for-precky-in-association-with-container-cabins-info.