Paul Dorney was born in Dudley and attended schools in Wolverhampton. After university, where he studied law, he worked for many years in Wednesbury and West Bromwich until being made redundant. Finding employment with Railtrack, later Network Rail, he worked until retirement as a signalman in a mechanical box in the Worcester area. Married, he has lived for many years in the city of Worcester, and volunteers in restoration work on former GWR carriages on the nearby Severn Valley Railway.