Friends take £500 car from Wales to Benidorm in emotional tribute journey

Four friends are preparing for an extraordinary road trip from Wales to Benidorm, swapping comfort for a battered old car as they raise money to help the family of a Welsh father who died in the Spanish resort under mysterious circumstances.

Jamie, Lloyd, Grant and Henry will drive thousands of miles to Benidorm this September as part of The Rat Run 2026, a challenge involving old and inexpensive cars. But this journey has a much more personal purpose: remembering their friend Nathan Osman and helping his family continue their search for answers.

A journey with a deeply personal reason

Nathan, a 30-year-old father of four from Wales, died in Benidorm on September 28, 2024, after falling from the cliffs of the Serra Gelada during the early hours of the morning.

His body was discovered some distance from the hotel where he had been staying. According to his family, he was alone, without his wallet or bank cards, and had reportedly encountered sex workers shortly before disappearing.

Spanish police initially concluded that there was no evidence of criminal involvement and treated the death as accidental or potentially voluntary.

However, Nathan’s family has never accepted that explanation.

They believe he may have been robbed and killed, and have continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.

Four friends take on the challenge

The four friends will buy a car costing less than £500, modify it and attempt to drive it from south Wales to Benidorm.

The journey is expected to involve breakdowns, improvised mechanical repairs and thousands of miles on the road.

But the group says every mile will be worth it if the challenge helps Nathan’s family continue their campaign.

They launched a fundraising appeal with an initial target of £1,000, which has already been comfortably exceeded ahead of their departure, raising a total of £1415 so far.

Nathan’s sister, Alannah Osman, said the friends had sacrificed huge amounts of their own time and time with their families to support the Osman family.

Family still searching for answers

Nathan’s death has already attracted attention in the UK, with the case raised in the House of Commons amid wider concerns about how British families are supported when relatives die overseas.

The family is expected to return to Spain to meet with the National Police as they continue seeking further answers.

For Alannah and her family, returning to Benidorm is understandably difficult. The city is now inseparably linked with the loss of Nathan, but it is also where they hope they can finally understand what happened to him.

The friends’ road trip is therefore about much more than reaching the Costa Blanca.

It is a tribute to a friend, a fundraising challenge and, for Nathan’s family, another step in a long-running search for the truth.