COMEDIAN Jason Manford has helped raise thousands for a young boy from Barry with Down's Syndrome to go on holiday to Disney World.

Twelve-year-old Alex Jones' family had started a campaign to raise the money for Alex to have his dream holiday, but he became the subject of national press coverage last week after being abandoned on his school bus before eventually being found at a Barry bus depot.

Alex suffers with multiple medical conditions, with his family previously being told to say their goodbyes before he pulled through.

Mr Manford posted on Facebook on Friday night urging his fans to donate as "charity ninjas" to hit the £12,000 fundraiser target.

Alex was raising funds to go on the holiday organised by charity Cauldwell Children but had only raised £240.

But donations flooded in overnight and the total now stands at more than £18,000

The post read: “Just had a really funny thought. Imagine if we got this kid’s charity appeal to £12k overnight and then I just deleted the posts about it. That family would wake up tomorrow morning having gone from £240 to £12k with not a clue how! We could be charity ninjas!”

Mr Manford then deleted the post so that the family would have no idea how the funds had been raised writing: "Nothing to see here folks. #Crackedit #CharityNinjas #ThankYou."

Mr Manford became aware of Alex's story last week after hearing about the bus incident, which Vale of Glamorgan Council have since apologised for.

To donate, visit: justgiving.com/fundraising/holiday4alex.