THE signs weren't looking good for one Dunfermline man after a "party trick" went wrong and he suffered a serious neck injury and brain bleed.

Liam Izatt was about to start out a new journey running his own business when a disastrous attempt at a back flip saw him rushed to hospital and having to wear a neck brace for three months.

He has now overcome the odds and is thriving along with his business, The Sign Forge, which is producing signs of all shapes and sizes for businesses – and individuals – across Scotland and beyond.

He is now hoping to inspire fellow young entrepreneurs to follow their dream.

Dunfermline Press:

"I had been working at a signage company after I graduated through in Glasgow and I was just really feeling undervalued for what I was doing, so I just made the decision to buy a CNC router which is the machine I use to cut out my signs," he explained.

"I bought that. It got delivered in the February and in the March, me and my brother were mucking around. My party trick was a back flip. I got my brother to launch me up in the air and I think I went sideways.

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"I don't remember any of it. I woke up on the floor and my dad was like 'You have had a fall'. The paramedics showed up and when they felt my neck, they realised something was really wrong."

After several days in hospital and returning home with a neck brace, Liam got to work starting his business two months later, and building up his signage equipment in his Dunfermline workshop.

"I had to build the CNC router while in the neck brace – it is a metre by a metre big bit of machinery but I built that then I kind of had a few jobs here and there and it has snowballed," he said.

"It has been crazy busy. My girlfriend quit her job a month ago and she has been working with me full time as well."

The former Dunfermline High pupil has sold over 100 signs in his first year of business and clients he has worked with include Karen's Diner, Raja Bros and Lime Salon in Dunfermline.

"I did a degree in product design so my speciality is signs that are a bit unique," he added. "You see a lot of signage companies just sending out flat, patterned signs and I wanted to do something a bit different. 3D, neon lights, vinyl. Something really unique.

"I like having my own schedule and networking with people."