FORMER Doncaster joiner Brian Bostock may be just five years from his pension - but he has bounced back from serious injury to start a new career.
The 60-year-old from Armthorpe was forced to put away his hammer and saw because of a serious back problem which left him needing strong pain killers.
After battling the injury for 35 years Brian was finally forced to give up his job as joiner whe
n the pain became too much to bear.
At his stage of life he feared it would be too late to find another career - but today he is back in work after retraining as a locksmith.
Brian had only been a joiner for five years when he tripped over a pair of his son's shoes and suffered a prolapsed disc - where the fluid had drained away and left two vertebrae rubbing together.
He was put in a plastercast from his waist to his armpits and was off work for more than a year.
He struggled on until last year, when the pain become too much.
Brian was using epidurals to block the pain caused by his problem and, while this worked short term, the injury surfaced again very quickly.
He said: "The pain was terrible. It was like the worst toothache, multiplied by 10, and there 24 hours a day."
Brian was out of work for 12 months, and thought that at the age of 59 he would not be able to get another career.
Advisers at the Job Centre sorted out funding for a locksmith course in Birmingham, even though Brian had been concerned he would not be able to afford it.
Now Brian has completed his training and started trading as Abacus Locksmiths.
Brian said: "I'm proof that you're not too old to retrain and get the job you want."
He also has not so far had any repeat of the pain which forced him out of joinery, which he thinks was mainly due to lifting heavy worktops.
He said: "It can be really satisfying. Recently I was called out to let a doctor in to a house so that he could attend a bed-bound woman."
He says his job centre adviser, Faye Lowther, was a great help to him.
He said: "Faye's dedication in getting me on the right course was wonderful, she even called me out of normal office hours to make sure I had all the information I needed."
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