Ex-lorry driver Lester Murphy will be swapping the Wiltshire countryside for the frozen wastes of north Alaska when he joins TV’s danger documentary Ice Road Truckers in March.

On his trip Mr Murphy, a cornet player with the Phoenix Training Band, plans to stop at the Arctic Circle and play God Save the Queen, although he will have to be quick before his lips freeze to the mouthpiece in the minus 25 degrees he fully expects.

Father-of-two Mr Lester, 50, who lives at Rudge, near Ramsbury, now works as a waste adviser but formerly worked as a trucker and still has his Class 1 licence for driving the biggest lorries.

But when he goes to Alaska for two weeks it will be as a passenger with one of the ice road truckers because his British driving licence is not recognised the other side of the Atlantic.

Mr Lester is planning to use his trip to raise sponsorship for the Phoenix Band and is inviting supporters to donate money through the band’s website.

He said he was fascinated by the TV fly-on-the-wall documentary and noticed that a company called Carlisle was one of the major ice road hauliers.

“I looked up their chief executive officer and sent him an e-mail asking if I could join them for a couple of weeks never thinking for a moment he would respond.

“To my surprise I had a reply from him inviting me over,” said Mr Lester who will be leaving his wife, Lin, and daughters Suzie, 27, and Lisa, 23, behind when he flies to the USA.

Mr Murphy said he had no fears of the truck he was in plunging through the ice into the sea beneath. “I wouldn’t be going out there if I was frightened,” he said.

“I have heard stories that there has been the odd truck going through the ice into the ocean beneath but it’s a pretty rare occurrence.

“No I am not scared at all...I can think of much more dangerous things to do than travelling down an ice road.”