A former soldier who overcame severe burns after his tank was petrol bombed in Iraq to launch a marathon charity fundraising mission has been recognised by the Express & Star.

Karl Hinett is in the middle of a challenge to run a marathon a week for a year to thank nurses for their care.

The 24-year-old, presented with his Express & Star Local Hero award at his Tipton home, said: “This is so nice, I would never consider myself a hero. I am doing it for my heroes at the hospital. It’s a great honour and extremely unexpected.”

He was a teenage private when he suffered 37 per cent burns to his hands, legs, arms and face in an attack by a mob when in Basra, with the former Staffordshire Regiment in 2005.

He had operations and skin grafts at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham. Pictures of the gunner and his comrades being engulfed in flames were screened on TV news bulletins around the world.

“I still think back to the attack,” he said. “Whenever I’m struggling in a marathon I think back to that moment and how lucky I was. ”

The awards are supported by Birmingham Midshires and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Winners go to a celebrity lunch at Molineux in December. Mr Hinett, medically discharged from the Army, has run 22 of a planned 52 marathons, raising £6,000.

He funds runs with his Army pension and proceeds go to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity. He was due to go to the next marathon, in Sweden, today. Visit www.justgiving.com/karl-hinett to help.