WAR veteran and double amputee Neil Heritage has had his dreams of winning an Atlantic rowing race shattered due to equipment failure.

Neil, from Poole, is part of a six-strong team who are about two-thirds of the way through the race, due to finish in Barbados around January 20.

The team, Row2Recovery, is currently in fourth place but hit trouble on Christmas Day when their desalinator, which makes sea water drinkable, broke down.

The six men, three of whom are amputees wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, will now be forced to accept help from a support vessel which will supply fresh water. Accepting help is against the rules, meaning they can no longer win.

But they are determined to plough on and to complete the crossing so they can collect the £625,000 pledged so far to help wounded service personnel.

Neil, who lost his legs in a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2004, said: “It’s incredibly frustrating that a technical problem has scuppered our efforts to cross unsupported.

“But attempting this crossing was always about far more than just winning a race.

“It’s about showing our injured friends and colleagues what it’s possible to achieve after suffering a serious injury.”

Neil, who lives in Upton and works as a PE teacher at Allen-bourn School in Wimborne, has been suffering from back pain.

A spokesman for the transatlantic rowing team said: “He doesn’t make a fuss but it’s hurting a bit.”