KEN Turner, a man the doctors said would be lucky to walk again, is raising a toast to life today.

He owns the Windsor Holiday Apartments, in Trafalgar Road, Blackpool, which have just been short-listed for the prestigious North West Tourism Board Self Catering Award of the Year.

They are the only apartments in Blackpool to have made the final, and Ken is thrilled to bits.

All the more so because the hotel business is something of a second career for him.

Until 1988 Ken was happily employed as a pilot in the Midlands, giving flying instructions to the Birmingham City Police.

But on one flight with a pupil, the plane's engine failed and the the plane crashed to the ground.

The plane was a write-off, but Ken and his pupil escaped with their lives

He spent his first week hooked up to a life-support machine, able only to move his head.

Doctors told him he might well be a paraplegic for the rest of his life.

That might have been their opinion, but Ken decided he was coming to Blackpool and that he was going to get better.

Throwing all his drive and enthusiasm into a new direction, first of all he bought the Windsor Hotel in Dean Street - and then the Windsor Holiday Apartments in Trafalgar Road.

He immediately set about transforming them and now has received a wonderful accolade for his efforts.

Mr Turner said: "I believe my accident happened for a reason and that there is somebody up there.

"Now I appreciate life in a way I never could have before my accident and I even have more zest for living."

"I'm so delighted to have got this far in the competition."

The finals of the North West Tourism Board Awards will be held at Blackpool Pleasure Beach on July 31.

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