HE holds down a demanding job and manages to lead a near-normal life: few people would suspect that customs and excise officer Dick Franklin suffers from agoraphobia and panic attacks.

The problem, a fear of open spaces, first manifested itself when Dick was a child, but it was to be many years before he was given a diagnosis.

"You feel as if everything around you isn't real, as if you're detached from it. It's like watching a film. You want to run, but you don't know where to. I just have an overwhelming feeling of terror and despair," he said.

In those days, few people had heard of agoraphobia and Dick continued having attacks until he left home. The problem resurfaced when he moved to London and had to commute from the suburbs to the city centre.

"I think it's to do with a feeling of being trapped. If you're in a situation you can't readily get out of, that's when it seems to happen," he said.

"A lot of my work involves going to businesses. On occasions, I have got to the place where I was going and gone straight home again. I was in such a state when I got there that I couldn't cope."

On one occasion, Dick became "stuck" in Oxford Street. "I stood, rooted to the spot for half-an-hour. I couldn't go forwards and I couldn't go backwards. People must have thought I was a nutcase," he recalled.

"In the end, I was walking along dragging my arm along the wall. I was bleeding but I didn't feel it. You have a need to grab hold of something. If you hurt yourself, it can take your mind off the panic. I more or less went home with my eyes shut."

At that time, Dick was also having problems with insomnia, sometimes going for four or five nights without sleep. His GP prescribed him tranquillisers.

Dick then applied for a transfer to Norwich. "I went to see a doctor there because I wanted to get some more pills. He said: 'You've got agoraphobia.' A great wave of relief went over me.

"He put me in touch with a group up there. There was a room full of people like me. Until then I had thought I was the only one in the world. From that point, I gradually got better. Talking to others helped."

Years of experience have taught Dick, who now lives in Wimborne, how to spot the early signs of a panic attack. He will usually return to where he feels safe - car, hotel room or home.

"In my case, I generally start feeling anxious, my muscles get really tense and I start thinking: 'Am I having a heart attack?'

"You interpret your surroundings as being threatening and just feel you have to get away from them. I was the breadwinner, so I had to go out to work, but I used to feel uncomfortable just going down the bottom of the garden.

"I found I couldn't walk to the Tube, but I could cycle there. If I was going with someone else who wasn't cycling, I still had to take the bike with me. It was my means of escape."

Dick still cannot walk to the shops and sometimes has problems driving on motorways.

"I've never had to stop, but there have been times when I've been doing 40mph because I've been in such a state."

In theatres and cinemas he has to sit where he can get out easily, and going for a walk in the countryside would be torture.

"You've got to accept your limitations and learn the coping mechanisms that help you," he said.

Panacea is an informal self-help group backed by Bournemouth Poole and District MIND. It provides support for people who suffer from panic attacks, phobias and related anxiety states and their friends and families.

There is also a regular newsletter and a library of self-help books and tapes available free of charge to members.

Co-ordinator Kim Bates said: "Reaching people and getting over the message that there is help available is quite difficult. For many, going out of the house is quite an ordeal.

"People can become very lonely and isolated. There's a sense of shame attached to not being able to control themselves, but it is an illness."

Meetings of Panacea are held every fortnight at 10.30am to 12.30pm on Wednesdays in the staff common room, Bournemouth Centre for Community Arts, Haviland Road, Boscombe (next meeting January 8); and 6.30 to 8.30pm on Mondays in the Brownsea Centre, behind Fourways Day Centre, Constitution Hill Road, Poole (next meeting December 16).

Anyone interested can just turn up, or contact Kim on 07816 640294 or 01202 392910 for more information.