MECHANICS are supposed to fix cars, not people. Thankfully for 84-year-old Bill Bingham, Hurley Motors in Abingdon do both.

Mr Bingham is lucky to be alive after suffering a potentially fatal arrythmia while having his car MoT-tested at the garage.

He picked the right place to go, as mechanics Alan Halls and Lloyd Lamothe used their first aid knowledge and worked on him until an ambulance arrived.

The medics confirmed that former teacher Mr Bingham would almost certainly have died but for the prompt actions of the pair.

Well done to them both. But how many of us could have done what Mr Halls and Mr Lamothe did?

The worrying fact is that the vast majority of the population has no first aid training whatsoever.

It is easy to fix that. Just sign up for courses with your local St John Ambulance.

They would love to hear from you and, if it saves the life of a loved one in the future, it will be money very well spent.