How old was you when your career started?

[nick crisp]

Iv been thinking motorcycle dealership Nick Crisp, and having never worked in that sector was reading up on quals you can get to try sell yourself abit, City and Guilds do courses. Not sure if they are actually worth while? 

Well, qualifications would certainly be useful if you want to do spannering. But there's bike sales and parts/accessories/clothing sales too. Don't need any quals for that, just a bit of knowledge.
When I left the RAF, I had worked on my own bikes, had owned several different ones by then, had read bike magazines for years, all the usual you do as an enthusiast. So I had built up quite a bit of knowledge. The first dealership I applied to asked for my CV, which was all avionics/RAF related, so I wrote a short history of my biking background separately, and I think it was more that which clinched getting the job.
Probably, most of the folks on this forum could do it. All the parts catalogue, ordering, warranty procedures etc; that's easy to learn on the job. Every place I've worked there's been those who could show me anything I didn't know about, get me started. Give it a shot, you've nothing to lose.
Oh, money -wise, my last parts job was at £17.5k so not huge, but I've recently seen places advertised at £20k+.
And keep an eye on this site:

http://www.bikejobs.co.uk/

Although I've either used local papers, word-of-mouth or just walked into places on a gis-a-job basis before.

Some interesting stories coming up in this thread.