{"id":90408,"date":"2025-01-23T16:58:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T16:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=90408"},"modified":"2025-03-14T11:09:37","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T11:09:37","slug":"i-left-the-army-with-7-50-now-i-earn-85k-how-two-dogs-and-an-ambulance-got-locksmith-back-on-his-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/23\/i-left-the-army-with-7-50-now-i-earn-85k-how-two-dogs-and-an-ambulance-got-locksmith-back-on-his-feet\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I left the army with \u00a37.50, now I earn 85k’: How two dogs and an ambulance got locksmith back on his feet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

John Williams is a successful auto locksmith – but has faced a few emergencies along the way <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

WHEN John Williams left the army after 25 years he found himself sat in a pub with just \u00a37.50 to his name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John, 54, had just borrowed money from his parents to buy a second-hand transit van and a box of tools and had a rough plan to find work as a locksmith around Ynysybwl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I met up with a friend I used to work with in the army in a Wetherspoons in Pontypridd,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I sat down with him, bought four drinks, put them on the table, and that\u2019s all I had the money for. My friend asked what my Plan B is? There was no Plan B. It either worked out or that was it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was in 2012. Today, John runs his own emergency locksmith business – Open Door Auto – and earns more than \u00a385,000 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merthyr-born John specialises in automotive locks, helping people around South Wales back into their cars, leaning on his experience with the Royal Logistics Corps and the Royal Army Ordnance Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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