Recovered alcoholic records charity song

Ben Gibbs quit drinking three years ago after several "drunken episodes and tantrums"

A recovered alcoholic has created a song to raise money for a charity that warns of the dangers of alcohol abuse.

Ben Gibbs, from Redditch, Worcestershire, quit drinking three years ago after he found himself in so-called "grey area drinking", experiencing "drunken episodes and tantrums".

The 31-year-old is releasing a single called "A Nice Glass of Alcohol-free Beer" to raise money for Alcohol Change UK.

He said: "I was a happy-go-lucky guy but when my life went a little downhill, the drinking carried on."

"The person that [went] out on [those] evenings was nasty to my closest friends and to myself, so after a few drunken episodes and tantrums I realised I had to stop," he explained.

He said "grey area drinking" described behaviour in which "people wouldn't look at me and think 'there goes an alcoholic' because I could go a few days without drinking".

He added: "But my issue started when I had one drink, because if I had one I would have to have 10."

Mr Gibbs said the song would be a quirky way to encourage people to reflect on their own drinking habits.

"I thought 'why don't I write a song about alcohol-free beer just for fun'... but it ended up sounding good and I thought 'I need to do something with this'."

He explained: "I wanted to raise money for Alcohol Change UK because I really wanted to put the money somewhere useful and I couldn't sell [the song] for money for myself, it felt strange to do that."

The song is being released on 23 September via various digital music platforms.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story you can visit BBC Action Line.