MOTORBIKE dealer Roy Armstrong is getting back into gear after being rescued from his blazing showroom by his son.

Roy suffered 32 per cent burns to his body in the fire which swept through his Italsport Ducati shop in the town's Yarwood Street in May of last year.

Now, he and 27-year-oldson, Paul, are back in the fast lane after relaunching their business.

And both father and son are giving their company massive exposure by being featured in national television advertising for leading UK motor cycle insurance firm, Bennetts.

They had been approached by well-known former Top Gear presenter Steve Berry from Bury. The bike-mad TV man asked them if they would appear in the campaign.

Thankfully, 57-year-old Roy is fighting fit again after spending three months in hospital following the blaze.

The fire devastated the showroom and spread to the workshop, engulfing 26 bikes and destroying some irreplaceable Ducati memorabilia.

Around 30 firefighters tackled the huge blaze and succeeded in saving the business that Roy had built up over the previous 23 years.

After being released from hospital, and with the support of his wife, Alison, and Paul, Roy is now getting down to business. Paul was chosen from thousands of entrants to star as one of the 30 "everyday" bikers in the Bennetts' Be Part of It campaign.

He said: "Both myself and my dad are featured in the adverts as well as our bikes and we're on for quite a few seconds.

"The ads are running on every British Superbikes programme and on any others to do with motor bikes."

Commenting on his brush with TV fame, Paul added: "It's a dream come true to represent the real bikers in the TV adverts. I love biking and it was great to be one of the 30 people in the first series of ads."

Both he and his dad are busy again after the relaunch of their showroom in the wake of last year's fire.

"We're up and running again," said Paul, "and it's great to be back in business."

Roy's association with Ducati began in 1975 when he started work as a technician at Sports Motorcycles, owned by Steve Wynne.

Later, he was a mechanic for the legendary Mike Hailwood in his famous TT win of 1979 and went on to work for racers such as Tony Rutter and George Fogarty, Carl Fogarty's father.

He also raced Ducati himself and his love for all things Italian, and especially Ducati, resulted in him opening Italsport in Manchester in 1982 before moving to Bury.