A MAN who was just seconds from turning himself into a human fireball while he was drunk is leading a new campaign urging people not to abuse alcohol.

The potentially devastating effects that booze can have on heavy drinkers and their families is being highlighted by the shocking story of Owen Roberts.

Staff at Bolton's Alcohol and Drugs Service hope his story will persuade hundreds of other people at risk to get help for their problem in the New Year.

Father-of-four Mr Roberts, aged 30, of Ramsay Avenue, Farnworth, realised that he had to stop drinking after he doused himself in petrol in the back garden of his home.

He then got out his lighter as his wife and mother watched in horror.

But the lighter failed to ignite and police who had been called to the house by his terrified family moved in and took him to hospital for his own safety.

Mr Owen said: "I knew what I was doing at the time, but I was drunk and the drink was talking. I had let everything buld up on me."

Since the horrifying incident last year Mr Owen has been counselled by staff at the alcohol and drugs service and now he is helping their campaign calling for Government funding to help their work.

Mr Owen is now looking forward to a better New Year with his wife, Debbie, and their four children.

He said: "My kids wouldn't come near me when I was drinking. Now they do. I mentally harmed them when I was drinking lager and cider every night.

"I never beat them up or anything. But I would shout and rant and rave when I was drunk -- and they also saw me try to kill myself."

He started drinking litre bottles of cider after a hard day at work as a stacker driver for Hampson's Bakery. His heavy drinking started following the sudden death of his father.

He said: "I'd just start drinking at night. Then I'd start arguing. I would bottle my problems up and, instead of talking to my wife like we used to do, we started arguing."

He says that the Bolton Alcohol and Drugs Service helped him to understand the reasons behind his drinking habit and he vows never to drink again.

The service, based in Wood Street, is fighting a constant battle for funding, but its policies are pioneering and are being used as a model for similar services across the country.

The volunteers, headed by manager Pat Johnson, are hoping that Health Minister Hazel Blears will visit the Bolton centre early in the New Year.

The centre caters for men and women -- who now make up 40 per cent of clients -- offering support and advice at whatever stage of alcohol dependency. Advisers also give guidance to wives, husbands and families effected by a person who is drinking heavily.

The service says many people mistake a glass of wine as one drinking "unit", the standard advice given out by the Government 10 years ago, but modern wines are much stronger than they used to be.

Women should only drink 14 units a week and men 21 units. No-one should drink more than six units at one time. If they do, they are a binge drinker and risk a spiral of harmful health effects.

Bolton Alcohol and Drugs Service can be contacted on 01204 393660.