WHEN two heart attacks stopped Bob Sanders in his tracks, he was forced to take a long hard look at his lifestyle.

Bob, a panel beater at Hartwells, had thought he was pretty fit until he ended up in Hereford's County Hospital, in August 2002.

Now, almost three years later, he has recently returned from climbing Ben Nevis with his son Justin and two friends, raising almost £1,000 for the British Heart Foundation in the process.

Bob had never climbed a mountain before his heart attacks, but they proved to be a wake-up call.

"It makes you realise you've got to do something about it," he says.

"My life has changed for the better - I was just a big fat slob before," he laughs.

So when, after a couple of years walking in the Black Mountains, son Justin suggested tackling Ben Nevis, Bob was up for it.

The quartet - Bob, Justin and friends Mark Hoppcutt and Pete White - took just three hours and 35 minutes to reach the summit, against an average time of four hours.

The achievement has left them all ready to do more: "We're now planning to go to France and climb Mont Blanc," says Bob.