A RIBBLE Valley war hero injured in Afghanistan has applied for a grant for a new specialist wheelchair.

Sergeant Rick Clement lost his legs in a bomb blast in the country’s Helmand province in 2010.

The 35-year-old former Chatburn resident temporarily used a specialist £4,300 wheelchair to go on the beach at his now hometown of Blackpool — for the first time since he was maimed.

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He said: “I have got it on a five-day trial to try it out and I have put an application in with Help For Heroes for one. To go on the beach has been a big thing for me. I have a bulldog called Max and we have been quite limited as to where I can take him in a wheelchair. And living in Blackpool, you want to get down on the sand every now and again so it’s massive to be able to do it again.”

Rick said using the wheelchair, which he propels with his arms, was a good workout on off-road terrain.

He said: “It’s quite difficult but certainly doable and the more I do, the longer distances I will be able to cover. I did a mile on the prom after the beach too so it was a decent start.”

While leading a foot patrol in May 2010 with the 1st Battalion Duke of Lancasters regiment, Rick stepped on an Improvised Explosive Device (IED), a crude Taliban-made bomb, and was badly wounded. As well as losing both his legs, the former Clitheroe Royal Grammar School student suffered internal injuries, which means he will never be able to have children.

Since then, Rick has campaigned for the Ministry of Defence to introduce a system allowing soldiers to provide sperm samples before going to war zones.