AN EAST Lancashire teenager's dream of exploring an island near Antarctica this Christmas has been dashed - after his expedition group travelled half-way round the world to be told their research trip could not go ahead.

Linden Davies, 18, of St John's Close, Baxenden, is part of a team from the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) which has been planning a research trip to the British island of South Georgia for the past four years.

Linden, a former pupil of Clitheroe Royal Grammar School and Hollins High School, Accrington, had gained sponsorship from British companies to help pay for the £7,000 cost of his trip.

When the 15-strong expedition team reached their initial base in Punta Arenas, Chile, they got a message from the British Government-appointed High Commissioner of South Georgia, saying that permission for their two-month research trip had been denied.

The team, led by author, artist and explorer Chris Furse OBE, has written to High Commissioner Donald Lamont demanding reasons for his refusal to allow the expedition to go ahead.

The expedition plans had already been changed at a late stage when the High Commissioner raised concerns about safety aspects of the trip. The explorers had been set to rely on Royal Navy ships to take them to and from the islands. Mr Lamont had expressed concern that the explorers did not have a ship on standby in the event of a medical emergency. Mr Lamont, who is based on the Falkland Islands, said that if troops and ships were called upon to launch a rescue, it would take them away from essential military duties.

Linden's role on the expedition team was to use surveying skills he gained on a BSES expedition to Greenland to create new maps of the area. He had been set to use global positioning satellite technology to create a new digital map of South Georgia, a former whaling island.

The explorers are determined not to waste the effort they have put into preparing for the trip during the past four years. They were yesterday poised to set sail from Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, towards the Antarctic peninsula and hope to make a two-day visit to South Georgia on New Year's Eve. They are currently re-arranging their plans and hope to carry out research in the Falklands and parts of South America.

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