THE brother of Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne has turned his life around thanks to a Peterborough jobs scheme after refusing help from his millionaire sibling.

In stark contrast to rich Duncan, Bill Bannatyne (54) was despairing following 12 months struggling on benefits after he lost his job as a forklift truck driver in January 2009.

However, Bill, from Coates, near Whittlesey, got back into work in January this year thanks to city jobs scheme A4E – and now works for them helping other jobless people to develop the skills to get back into work.

Father-of-three Bill chose to reject the obvious route of asking his entrepreneur brother for money, or even for a post working at the Bannatyne’s Gym, in Werrington, Peterborough, part of the chain owned by Duncan.

He said: “Duncan does an awful lot of charity work, but I’m independent and I like to do things by myself. I don’t need anyone’s help.

Bill said being referred to A4E, based in Cathedral Square, in January was the chance he needed to change his life. He said: “I really thought that at 53 I was on the scrapheap. I became depressed, lost my self-esteem and would have literally taken anything I could find.

“It was at that point that I decided to try to turn my life around.”

Bill applied for a job with JobCentre Plus as an employment advisor, making regular visits to Whittlesey Library to use computers to fill out application forms.

He got an interview, but was not successful – however, he did not give up and, when he was asked by A4E advisers about his ideal job, he told them he wanted to be on their side of the desk.

He said: “I took in my CV so they could look over it, and they asked me what kind of work I wanted to do. I said, ‘I’d like to be sitting in your chair asking those questions to people like me’.

“I decided that I wanted to be in a position to help people like myself back to work. I could empathise because I knew about the depression and the feelings of rejection.”

Within a week Bill had been asked to attend an interview and work experience, before he was welcomed on board as a personal career coach.

The role is a contrast to his previous career, which mainly focused on manual work. Originally from the gritty ship-building area of Clydebank in Scotland, Bill moved to Leicester in 1978 and then onto Peterborough in 1991, when he secured a job at the Starbake bakery and then at the McCain’s factory, in Whittlesey.

After six years, he moved on to work as a forklift truck driver for Potter and Moore in Werrington, where he was made redundant three times.

He took casual work contract cleaning in between stints at Potter and Moore. He said: “One day a friend said to me, ‘You’re better than this, you should be doing more with your life’.”

Although his success has not led to wealth like Duncan’s, Bill said he is happier than ever.

He said: “Not everybody can be a millionaire. There has to be people at the other end of the scale.”

A4E centre manager Karen Kendrick said: “Bill interviewed really well. He came out on top because of his great communication and people skills. Bill is an asset to the A4E team and a shining example of how to turn your life around.”