Bar staff have told how they had to resuscitate one of their regulars after he collapsed outside their Dundee pub.
Helen Taylor and Andy Robertson, the co-managers of The Anchor bar in Broughty Ferry, were about to open when a man came running into the pub saying an elderly man had collapsed in Long Lane.
The pair rushed out and saw the man — thought to be in his 60s — lying on the ground unable to breathe.
Helen, Andy and Alan Gallagher, a pharmacist from a few shops down, set about reviving the pensioner — who is known by locals as Jack — while Broughty Ferry lifeboat coxswain Murray Brown called the emergency services.
Helen, 43, said: “Jack wasn’t breathing and I think Murray was on the phone. He put the 999 operator on loudspeaker for us. We gave Jack mouth-to-mouth and we went onto chest compression.”
Helen, Andy and Alan battled to keep Jack alive until ambulances arrived.
Paramedics had to use a defibrillator to shock him back to life twice before treating him further in the ambulance. Jack was said to be recovering in the Intensive Care Unit of Ninewells.
But Helen insisted those who helped Jack on Wednesday were not heroes.
She said: “I think it’s what anybody would do if they had first aid experience. Obviously without it, you wouldn’t know what to do.
“Because of the industry we work in there’s a lot of first aiders in the pub, but I think people in all walks of life should learn how to do it.
“It’s the first time I’ve had to do it and hopefully it’s the last, but you never know when you might need to help someone.
“We’re a close team here and it was very much a team effort to help Jack. A few people in the alley were panicking, but in that moment you don’t have time for that and you’ve got to get on with it.
“Jack is a real character, his friends were in on Wednesday and that’s who he will have been going to meet when he took ill. He is a lovely old guy and we’re all hoping he pulls through.”