REGULARS at a Tynedale pub became life-savers on Friday after a customer collapsed and stopped breathing.

Minutes before Newcastle United’s game with Nottingham Forest kicked off at 7.45pm, a man collapsed at The Sun Inn in Acomb – run by Claire Mcgee and her partner Malcolm Oliver.

The local man, known to villagers as Jim, had stopped breathing and was unresponsive, prompting Malcolm to ring 999.

He was placed in the recovery position by Joe Watson, who had been in the bar waiting for the match to get under way.

"You could see the colour just draining from him so we started CPR," said Claire, who had run first aid training courses for youngsters as part of her former job.

"I did the rescue breaths and Joe did the chest compressions."

Joe, who works for the Environment Agency and is also first aid trained, said: "Someone ran to get the defibrillator from the hall up the road and I was doing chest compressions for about 15 minutes."

Keith Norman returned with the defibrillator and Dominic Luke took over chest compressions before the automated machine, which is used to restore a normal rhythm to the heart, delivered two shocks.

"Everyone was really calm," added Claire.

"We each just did what we had to do and hoped it would be enough."

A community paramedic and ambulance crew from the North East Ambulance Service arrived at the scene and, after treating Jim at the scene, he was transported to Newcastle's Freeman Hospital.

Claire explained: "A family member came into the pub on Saturday and let us all know that he was in a stable condition and had been sitting up talking.

"Without the defibrillator, or if that had happened when he was on his own, things could have been very different."

The defibrillator was only installed at Acomb Village Hall in March thanks to a Hexham Courant campaign, run in partnership with local heart-start charity The Stephen Carey Fund, which saw generous readers, businesses and community groups help raise almost £10,000 to provide four Public Access Defibrillators across the district.

And the charity's vice-chairman, Dougie McEwan, confirmed it was the third one of the charity's defibs located across Northumberland to be put to use in the last 10 days alone.

NEAS operations manager Gareth Campbell said: "Every second counts when someone has a cardiac arrest and if a bystander immediately performs CPR, this can significantly improve the patient's chances of survival.

"We work closely with charities like The Stephen Carey Fund to place defibrillators and carry out training in the community to show the public how easy it is to use defibrillators and the difference early CPR can make.

"Although we hope the defibrillators never have to be deployed, it's great to hear when they make a difference."

* If you know Jim or his family, we'd love to hear how he's doing. Contact the Hexham Courant on (01434) 613113.