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A heavy metal fan has been awarded sickness handouts after doctors said his addiction to music was a disability.


The ruling means Roger Tullgren, 42, will pocket thousands of pounds in state benefits to help finance his 36-year obsession.


His boss is also letting him play his ear-splitting music at work and giving him time off for concerts, reports the Daily Mirror.


It marks an end to Roger's 10-year bid to have his "condition", which began when he started listening to Ozzy Osbourne's band Black Sabbath in 1971, officially classified as a handicap.


Bedecked in his traditional heavy metal skull and crossbones jewellery he said: "Some might say I should grow up and learn to listen to other types of music but I can't.


"Heavy metal is my lifestyle. The fact I am into music so much has affected my work situation to the extent that I have had to quit some jobs."


Roger will get a £65 a week top up to the money he earns as a part-time restaurant dishwasher so he can buy concert tickets and CDs.


And the tattooed rocker, from Hassleholm in southern Sweden, hopes it will pay his expenses for playing in his band Silverland.


The Swedish Unemployment Service said: "Because heavy metal dominates so many aspects of his life, the Employment Service has agreed to pay part of Mr Tullgren's salary in disability benefits."


It stepped in after occupational psychologists performed extensive tests before classifying him "disabled".


But another Swedish occupational therapist said: "I think it's extremely strange. If someone has has a gambling addiction you don't send them down the racetrack. We try to cure the addiction, not encourage it."

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The education and income replies explain a lot.

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