A SALE teenager took up a summer work experience with the company that helped him and his family overcome the bodyblow of a fire which destroyed their home.

For a week in July Niall Holohan, aged 17, worked for insurance loss assessor, Harris Balcombe, at its Timperley office, to find out whether he can one day help others in the same way.

After falling victim to a blaze which destroyed his family home, Niall was so impressed by the service and treatment his family received, he was keen to find out more about what being a loss assessor involved.

The Ashton on Mersey sixth form pupil said: "After the help, advice and reassurance we received from Harris Balcombe, I was drawn to working in a profession which does so much

to help others going through a difficult time.

"The ethos of the business is what has attracted me to work for them, and hopefully end up having a career myself in the rewarding industry of loss assessing."

When the fire broke out at his home, Niall heard the fire alarm, woke everyone up and got them safely out. The fire service said that a couple of minutes later there would have been too much smoke to see a way out